Floating Islands
by Stephaniedz
Summary: Yogscast Fanfiction/AU. Zoey becomes apprentice to one of the masters of her realm, what will happen? Read to find out. Rated T for kissing, violence and language. Mostly Zoethian. Will contain Sjips, Xephmadia, Tobyn and Minteep.
1. Meet Zoeya Proasheck

**Authors note- Just to clarify some quick things before the story, the notes I put in will be in parentesis AND bold so you win't miss them, whereas the character's thinking will be in italics. Other than that, I am open to constructive criticism so fire away and enjoy the story!**

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**Chapter One - Meet Zoeya Proasheck**

Zoeya breathed in and sighed out, her breath swirling around her messy red ponytail and cutting the clouds surrounding her face.

The horse underneath her snorted and tromped forward through the clouds. She breathed out into her hands, rubbing them together to help warm her in the mist. Her horse snorted once again, pulling her out the top of the clouds and bathing her in warm sunlight.

She sighed and unzipped the top of her red sweatshirt, revealing a t-shirt that was plain white, her jeans had used to be blue, but over the years they had become a blueish grey. She smiled down at her little pony.

"Almost there Barry." She hugged the red and cream colored horse, he whinnied happily. The excitement was clear in her voice. She was positively buzzing with energy.

After becoming the top of her class at all her schools she had been summoned by the emperor Ridgedog along with several others of her same age group that had been great in their schools to become an apprentice to one of the masters of the realms. She, along with many others was a Overlander, she lived on the floating islands that made up the main world.

Right now she was traveling to the Arena of the Clouds, where the masters would show her and her fellow apprentices what they had to offer. Her eyes widened in excitement and she breathed out happily as the walls of the arena came into view.

The arena was impressive to say the least. The outside resembled the Roman Coliseum with but made of metal and it looked like it could hold an entire world population. It very well could as Zoeya found out as she led her horse through the gates.

She walked through the giant metal threshold and a roar erupted from the walls. She looked to her sides and saw hundreds of Overlanders cheering and whistling and clapping for her. Her horse continued to move forwards at a steady pace but she felt as if time were standing still. Zoey smiled nervously and grasped his reins in her shaking hands, leading her horse to a small green fenced off clearing in the middle of the arena. She pushed the gate open and led her horse inside, closing the gate securely behind her. After closing the gate she let her horse's reins go, he could wander freely inside this tiny pasture and not cause trouble.

"Hey, over here." A male voice piped up behind Zoeya, she turned around to see three boys, one had long black hair, a light green tie and looked about a year older than her.

The boy next to him had short brown hair and a dark grey sweatshirt, he looked younger than her by another year.

The third had lighter brown hair, he wore a pair of blue overalls and he had a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee, proving he was several years her senior. The man with the mustache had spoken to her. He was leaned against the wooden railing, the boy beside him was beckoning with a hand.

"Uh, hi." She walked over and tried to be friendly but to her it just sounded dumb. "I'm Zoeya, but you can call me Zoey." The boy with black hair smiled and spoke next.

"Hey Zoey, my name's Nilesy."

"I'm Toby." Said the boy in the sweatshirt.

"And I'm Sjin." The man at the end of the line looked at her and twirled the corner of his mustache.

"Hi, so are you guys the other apprentices?"

"Yeah," Sjin said "Who are you hoping to get apprenticed to?" Zoey thought about this hard.

"I-I don't know, I haven't really seen any of the masters before today. What about you guys?"

"I wanna do some work with machines, but I'm not sure who I want to be apprentice to." Toby seemed to have skimped on the research as well.

"I kinda want to learn about machines as well, but I also want to work near the water." This was not really surprising considering water was scarce up in the Overlands.

"I wanna go work at Sipsco. I heard they make the dirt for all the islands." The man in the overalls widened his smile. Zoeya opened her mouth to speak but she never finished. A sudden hush came over the crowd. The four students stopped and looked up to the special stage set up for the Emperor of the realm, Ridgedog. He silenced the crowd with a wave of his hand.

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**Ok, so this is chapter one. Most of the chapters will be in this format and the length will vary depending on how lazy I was that day. Also, let me know if you want me to warn you at the chapter with all the kissing. (Its not really bad or...intimate but, just in case.) Thats it for now, review if you want more.**


	2. The Masters

**Authors note: Now back to our non-sheduled reading.**

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**Chapter Two - The masters**

"You all came here to witness the new apprenticing of the masters of our realm. Now we shall introduce these students to their new teachers." When he finished speaking a golden carriage came from a port under the stage, the carriage was pulled by four golden, mechanical horses.

There was a brand on the side of the cart, it was a giant 'S' in big lettering. Zoey saw Sjin smile from his place beside her, he mouthed the word 'Sips', Following this the cart stopped in front of a path leading up to another stage with several chairs on it.

Out stepped a man in a suit, his skin was a colorless grey, his hair jet black and his eyes looked as if he had been angry for ages. He looked around, grimaced at the crowd, who cheered excitedly, and walked to the first seat.

"I would like to introduce Sips, the CEO of Sipsco, maker of the finest dirt in the Overlands." A hoot came from over the top of the crowds heads now. A giant owl landed with a thud in front of the stage. A large saddle was placed on its back, a woman stepped down from the saddle and waved at the crowd.

"Next is Lomadia, Manager of Owl Island sanctuary for owls of all kinds."They erupted again in a shout of adoration. The woman took her seat next to Sips.

Another creature emerged from the tunnel beneath the stage. It was a brown unicorn.

The unicorn had earthen tone armor and its rider was a blonde boy, about eighteen, he had a white headband and backpack as well as a humble crown and green t-shirt.

"Our next master is Littlewood, the sapling prince of the northern forests." The boy smiled and sat next to Lomadia, the two nature enthusiasts started chattering furiously.

A thundering sound came from the tunnel. It was soon followed by a huge metal train laying tracks before itself and picking them back up as it went. When it stopped with a mighty hiss two doors opened and a pair of men stepped out. They were mirror images of one another, except the one on the right had a brown beard and the left had white.

"Presenting currently are the Rail Brothers. Todays leaders in on land travel."

Something creaked from inside the tunnel. The crowd stopped cheering and looked in confusion at the shadow consuming the entity. They all gasped when something metallic and shiny lurched into the light. It was a silver colored orb with eight legs that descended down and held the thing up. The legs started folding, bringing the orb down to ground level, a door opened with steam flowing out of it. The crowd waited in tense anticipation.

Then a man with blonde hair, goggles and a white lab coat stepped out. He flashed a smile and many of the women in the stands cheered, a few of them fainting. Ridgedog started up again.

"Here we have Lalna, head of Scientific reasearch at Stone Brick University." The blonde man smiled again and took his seat. The next masters arrived on horseback, one sat astride a tall, reddish brown horse and the other wobbled from side to side on a short, grey donkey that lurched to a stop and nearly threw his ginger bearded rider off. The pair dismounted, the tall man put his hand on the hilt of his sword, the other had his pick axe over his considerably shorter shoulder.

"You all should know this pair, but for those who do not remember the heroes of the Overlands, I would like to introduce Xephos and Honeydew." The two smiled and waved, (Honeydew winking at one particular girl in the front row.) then took their seats. Zoey noticed that there was one more seat that was not taken and the masters seemed to have stopped coming.

"Who's missing?" She whispered to Sjin. He shrugged and went back to staring intently at his icon, Sips. All the crowd looked expectantly at Ridgedog. He waited, impatience and anxiety clear even from a distance. Finally, he began to speak again.

"Well, it appears that the last master will no-" He was cut off by a huge shadow that was cast over the crowd and the middle of the arena. Everyone looked up to see a huge creature with skin the color of obsidian and bat like wings land. Zoey took in a breath of awe. She was in the presence of a real, live dragon.

Its wings were opened in a proud stance. The creature had silver and violet armor and it glared down at her from more than three times how high Barry came up. The creature folded its purple wings gracefully and deliberately. The dragon was incredible, Zoey wasn't quite sure she could say the same about its rider.

The dragon's wings folded and a man was revealed to be sitting on the creature. A giant leather saddle was on its back via a strap across its chest.

The man sat with his back straight as an arrow. A long black cape flowed over his broad shoulders and tapered up into a mask that came up over his face. He wore a solemn expression as he smoothed his hair back and dismounted. A few of the girls who had fainted when the scientist walked out looked scornfully down at the man.

The new master looked over the crowd then sniffed, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he walked purposefully towards his seat. Zoey felt an odd mix of emotions from looking at this man. She was mesmerized and intrigued yet, terrified. Her feelings cleared momentarily as Ridge came back to life.

******"****The final master I would like to introduce the mage of Endyre."**

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**Twenty bucks you can't guess who this is.**


	3. Show Off

**So here we go! Chapter three! To whoever guessed Rythian for the last master character, here. *gives you twenty male deer, all still alive* Have fun and enjoy the story!**

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**Chapter Three - Show off**

"The final master I would like to introduce the mage of Endyre. Now, will all masters please rise." Ridge instructed the overlanders below him. They all stood. Zoey could not help but notice that the mage towered over all his peers.

"Now, masters, please take your positions." The masters started off in two different directions. Sips, Lomadia, Martyn and the Rail Bros walked up to a room near the stage and stood in front of a machine that made their image bigger and put it up on a wall. The first to do anything was Sips. He took a handful of dirt from his pocket and combined it with some he grabbed from a satchel on his belt. He held it in his palm, waited a few moments, then let go. His hands moved down but the dirt stayed floating in the air.

"That, is how you make the finest Sipsco dirt." Sips gathered the dirt up in his bag again, bowed and let Lomadia take the stage. She looked like she was preparing for a huge presentation when a small owl fluttered in and landed on her arm, hooting and holding its wing at an odd angle. She calmed it gently then pulled a thorn out of its injured wing with expert precision. The owl hooted happily and flew off. She looked at the crowd.

"I had something else planned but that works just as well." The woman shrugged and gave the spotlight to The Sapling Prince.

The boy had a withered potted plant with him. He set the plant down on a table, holding his hands on either side of the plant. As he held it grew and blossomed. When he pulled away the sapling was green and had gained several inches. He smiled and stepped back to let the Rail Bros show some insane contraption off.

They managed to get something set up but when the white bearded man pushed the button the contraption exploded. Many of the other masters rolled their eyes.

"That will be all. " The twin with the brown beard coughed. Ridgedog spoke again, he pulled the attention from those set up on the platform to the scientist, the swordsman, the miner and the mage who were standing by their respective rides.

"Now we will see something from our four remaining masters." The first to go was Honeydew. He shouted some tune in dwarvish and started to dig straight down. Xephos and Lalna laughed while the mage just rolled his eyes again.

It was Xephos' turn now, he pulled his sword from its holster at his belt. He aimed the tip at a dummy set in the gravel that made up the floor of the arena and swiped at it expertly, landing a few blows before leaping back with the utmost grace and bowing low, the dummy falling to pieces behind him, the crowd clapped again.

Now it was Lalna's chance, he stepped forward, pulled a laser gun from its holster that had been hidden under his lab coat. Aiming at a target that was at least fifty feet away, he fired.

At the middle of the target, mere millimeters away from a bullseye, there was a smoking hole where the laser had passed through. The scientist blew imaginary smoke from the barrel of his laser gun and smiled at the mage. The man in the mask smirked back before conjuring a ball of purple flame.

He extended one arm and pulled the one with the fire back like he was going to shoot a bow and arrow. As he pulled back the tail of the flame grew longer. He had the shot lined up but he did not fire, the crowd and Zoey were all on the edge of their seats. His breathing got visibly steadier, she thought that if he held it any longer he would miss the shot. But just as the stands started to doubt the master, he released.

The flame traveled through the air and shot through the center of the target, right through the dot. The mage looked at Lalna, his hidden lips curved into a smile. Lalna huffed and rearranged the goggles on his head, muttering under his breath.

"Showoff."

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**Oooooh, Lalna's jelly. **


	4. Teach Me The Ways

**Chapter Four - Teach me in the ways...**

"Now," Ridge started again. "The apprentices will choose which master's footsteps the want to follow in. Masters, please line up." The men and women obliged and Zoeya, Sjin, Nilesy and Toby were summoned forth. They stood facing the masters, a mere five feet between them.

"Toby," The emperor addressed the boy kindly. "Who do you wish to be your teacher?" Toby looked at all who had shown him what they could do, most of them smiled at him. His gaze finally stopped at the Sapling Prince.

"I wish for you to teach me the ways of the forest." Martyn nodded and the masters made room for Toby next to his new master.

"Nilesy." The black haired boy took a step forward and looked at all the masters nervously. He looked at Lomadia, who was staring back at him with a friendly smile on her face.

"I wish for you to teach me the ways of owls." Nilesy said. She nodded and made a space for him beside her.

"Sjin." Ridgedog indicated it was his turn. Sjin stepped forward then stopped, grinning broadly at Sips. His choice was clear and unmistakable.

"I wish for you to teach me in the ways of dirt." Sjin puffed his chest up at this. Sips smiled and clapped the boy on the shoulder,

"Welcome to Sipsco kid." He shoved the boy in next to him.

"Zoeya." She heard her name come in the voice of Ridge, calling her forward. She stepped up and looked at them all. Her brain told her that for the science she loved the best option would be Lalna, but something drew her past him in the line. Something deep in her gut told her to pick the man in front of her. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them or think about who she was picking.

"I wish for you to teach me in the ways of magic." She looked up and realised who would be her master. The solemn man in the black cape glared down at her from his mask. The crowd went wild but Zoey felt a deep sense of fear for this man who was glaring down at her now. She couldn't help but wonder what had been going through her head when she made her choice.

**'****_Have I just sold my soul to the devil?'_****She thought fearfully.**


	5. Home of the Mage

**Quick author's note- Can I just say how amazingly cool and utterly awesome you guys are? Really, I appreciate all the love and attention this is getting and I just cannot thank you enough. I really think this is awesome. Now, you didn't come here to read a lengthy author's note. Enjoy the story!**

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**Chapter Five - Home of the Mage**

Zoey swallowed, not her fear as she had hoped, that remained where it was. The mage nodded slowly. The crowd cheered again and Ridgedog could be heard clapping over the roar.

"Well done apprentices!" you could hear the grin in his voice. "Now you will be brought back to your new housing by your masters. Everyone please remain seated while the masters and new apprentices leave, afterwards the families of the students may come collect the various rides, as they will no longer be needed." Ridgedog finished his speech and Zoey spoke to her new master.

"Um, can I just go say goodbye to my horse? He's really important to me." His purple gaze never wavered in its harshness, but he nodded. She turned on her heel and ran back to her horse, throwing her arms around his red and cream neck.

"Goodbye Barry, I'll miss you." The horse whinnied and leaned his head down, returning to hug best he could. She smiled at him and grabbed her pack from his saddle.

Zoey turned away from him and walked with purpose to the stand where her master had been just a few moments ago, to find him gone.

She looked around, finding herself hoping the fear inducing man had disappeared. She then remembered the ride he had come here on. Walking quickly to the dragon she found the blonde scientist leaning against his ride, arguing with another being who was hidden behind the black and purple scaly creature.

"Are you kidding? Animals are unreliable!" He was practically shouting "They can't go very far and require way more work. Machines are far more efficient." On the last word he patted his metal contraption.

"Efficient?" The voice scoffed "Efficient?! You can hardly go a hundred feet without that monstrosity losing something essential! At least my dragon can hold itself together! Thats why you'll never catch me in one of those steel abominations." The man behind the dragon spoke with a strange accent, no matter how hard she tried Zoey could not place it. **(Its Swedish but they don't have a Sweden here.)**

"Really? you sure its not your little vendetta against science?" Lalna folded his rubber gloved hands and taunted.

"Fair enough." The other man growled under his breath. Lalna smiled, then noticed the fire haired girl standing not fifteen feet away.

"Your new apprentice is here." He snickered then walked into his machine.

'_Wait?'_ Zoey thought, '_Did he just say, apprentice?'_ Sure enough, the head of her master popped up from behind the back of the dragon, still scowling. The encounter with the scientist did not appear to have lightened his mood. In fact it seemed to have had the opposite effect.

"Ready?" He asked somewhat impatiently, she realised that before that moment she had not heard him speak, hence her not recognising his accent.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He climbed up onto the dragon's back and gripped the reins, he sat on the first section of the leather saddle. There was another part that was separated by a horizontal metal bar. The mage looked down at her and motioned the red haired girl up.

She gulped and started the climb, as she tried to step onto the dragon's leg to climb up, the creature turned its giant head around to snarl at her with its gigantic, marble white teeth. The man in the saddle yanked the reins to get the dragon's attention, it continued growling but kept its snout pointing straight ahead.

Zoey climbed the rest of the way and sat on the seat that was farther back. Just as she was sitting down, the dragon lurched forward, running full speed then taking off. When it started running Zoey squeaked and threw her body forwards, grasping at the first thing she could steady herself with. As it happened, she missed the metal bar she was aiming for completely and wrapped her arms around a warm body, burying her face in the black-as-night cloth whipping around her as it caught the wind.

*Ahem* Zoey looked up and saw the violet eyes of her master staring down from over his shoulder. The realisation hit her like a train. She had thrown her arms around his upper torso and was attempting to hide her face in his cloak. Her cheeks immediately turned the same color as her hair and she scooted back so she could grasp the bar she was meant to hold onto. The mage returned his glare to the skies and his mind to getting back to his home.

**When Sipsco created the floating islands all of the world population had abandoned the earth below and left for the world above the clouds. Since then, the forests had taken back the earth, and a thick layer of mist, called the under-fog had hidden the land below from view. Few ever ventured into it, for fear of what dangers lay below. Now though, the dragon and its riders were headed straight for it. **

Zoey yelped as the thick vapor came up over her feet, then her thighs, until she was completely immersed in it. It felt like a lighter form of water. The girl calmed slightly when she realised she could in fact breathe, that it was in fact nothing more liquid then vapor.

It still caused a small amount of alarm to her though, as she couldn't see her hand three inches in front of her face. She grasped the bar tighter, fear building in her thoat for the upteenth time that day.

It couldn't have been more than ten minutes, but it still felt like a lifetime before they broke through to the underside of the mist. This land was strange to Zoey though, below a canopy of overgrown trees created rounded hills of leaves, and above the fog made a whirling sea of grey.

"Where are we?" The sound of her voice surprised Zoey, as she had not said a word on the entire trip so far.

"Closer to home." The man in front of her seemed to have lost most of the anger in his voice. Now it was softer, less impatient. This change in his mood encouraged the girl to continue.

"How far away from there are we."

"A mile or so, we'll be at Blackrock soon."

"Blackrock?"

"My home, its made of basalt bricks hence the name Blackrock." As he finished speaking the trees below them ended and a plain of grass took its place, in the center of the plains a tower of black stone came into view. Zoey wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the mage smile under his mask.

The tower was soon followed by another three towers with bridges connecting them, in the middle of all the towers was what looked more like a castle then anything else. Zoey took in another breath. The place wasn't huge, but considering she had grown up in a five by five foot mushroom it was gigantic.

"Ohh," Zoey breathed out, finally finding her voice and sighing in awe. "I-Its...incredible." She finally managed to stutter.

"Like it?" The cloaked man in front of her smiled openly for the first time. "It turned out pretty well considering all I had to work with was a volcano nearby." He brought the dragon to the ground and leapt off, landing gracefully on his feet in the grass. Zoey attempted to follow but was inhibited by the dragon growling at her.

"You better get used to her Quinn, she'll be here for a while." The mage laughed, not turning around but referring to his dragon. Zoey warily jumped the rest of the way down. The dragon snorted and flew off, landing in a cave nearby.

"I guess I should show you where you'll be staying Zoeya" He started walking towards the castle.

"You can call me Zoey." He didn't seem to hear her.

"I uh, didn't catch your name." Zoey called, running after the man. He turned around and looked at her blankly for a second, as if wondering whether or not to tell her.

"Rythian," He said "My name is Rythian."


	6. First Night

**Wow, chapter six already. This is going great! I hope you guys still enjoy reading the story, its just now starting to get interesting.**

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**Chapter Six - First Night at Blackrock**

"And this is where you will be staying." Zoey looked into the small room, it had one wall almost completely covered with bookcases, a dresser for storing her things, a window at one wall and a bed that was big enough for two, though it was tiny compared to the bed Rythian slept in.

"_Why do you have a bed so big?"_ She had asked.

"_I fidget in my sleep, a bigger bed prevents me from hitting to floor too much."_

"If you need anything just let me know." Rythian turned to leave, but stopped halfway out the door. "One more thing, I would appreciate it if you could knock before entering the bathroom, the magic room and my bedroom."

"Yeah, I guess so." She joked and smiled broadly at him. He flashed her a small one in return, then closed the door. Zoey breathed out, looking around her small room and actually seeing it for the first time.

It was clean, that much could be said. All the books were put into groups depending on what she thought was their color. The room was definitely clean, but boring.

"I'll have to redecorate this." She sighed to herself. Suddenly very tired, Zoey looked out the window to find the sun had set and was taking its light with it. She put her pack down on top of the dresser and alerted her teacher that she would be going to bed. He nodded and continued working, she thought she heard him say something about a "power flower not working right." Now, the girl was curled up in her bed, the torch on the wall was out and she fell into sleep with the stars glowing through the under-fog past her window.

She dreamt that night, more like a nightmare, really.

It had been nothing. From the time she was little Zoey could remember a deep fear of the nothingness that crept in her dreams. Even now, at a time when most people outgrow or at least learn to live with their fears Zoey was still terrified.

She found herself in the same dream she had endured many a night. There was nothing but blackness. She felt nothing touching her, saw nothing around her. She thought she heard a voice though, through the dark, telling her it was all her fault. That she was to blame. The girl awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright in the bed and hugging her knees against her chest.

"It was just a dream." She panted as she hugged her knees in the dark. She had to remind herself that she was at Blackrock, not in the void that made up her dreams. She was just starting to settle down when she thought she heard something in the dark.

She panted furiously as she fumbled to light the torch, he fingers clumsy in the dark. The noise was getting louder when she finally lit the torch and turned around to find...

Nothing. A dresser stood guard by the door and some of the books peeked from their hiding places, but there was no sign that a life form other than her was, or had been in the room. the fire haired girl breathed out a shaky breath, slowly sinking back onto her bed and curling up once again, whimpering quietly. After a moment to let her breathing resume its normal pace, the girl realised that her throat was dry. Still shaking, she got to her bare feet and lit another torch to carry with her down the hall.

As she opened the door she was hit with a wall of fear, the corridor was dark to either side of her and the torch seemed in danger of going out at any moment. Swallowing hard and steadying her nerves, Zoey moved out into the hall. Her feet made a light tap on the floor when they struck the marble and the cold stone nipped at her exposed skin. As she passed by the the door to Rythian's room she noticed his sleeping form and stopped momentarily.

"_I fidget in my sleep, a bigger bed prevents me from hitting to floor too much." _He didn't appear to be fidgeting at all, in fact he was probably the most peaceful she had seen him. His features that were no longer hidden behind the maskwere contorted with worry, but he was sleeping soundly, that's what she thought at least.

Before she could walk away the mages back arched and his mouth was open as if to scream in agony, but no sound came out. He fell forward and she saw that his eyes were still closed.

'_He must be dreaming.'_ She winced as another spasm rippled through his body, sending him pitching forward onto his forearms, panting this time. He opened his mouth in a silent scream and grasped his arm, he was suddenly thrown to the floor as if something had picked him up and tossed him there.

Zoey had to cover her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from crying out for the man who was now clutching at his left jaw as if something had wounded him there, he was lying on his side now, still holding his jaw with the bed covers strewn about on the floor. He whimpered once, then the spasms stopped. She waited for him so start up again, but he remained still. It was only then Zoey noticed the scar on his jaw.

It came up from underneath his chin, all the way over the top of his left lip. One long, deep scratch that was currently oozing black slime. Zoey covered her mouth again, this time to keep from retching in her disgust. She peeled her gaze away and went back to bed, not quite sure she would be able to sleep now.

The next morning was difficult for Zoey, but seemed just fine for her new master. She was sitting at the table having a cup of tea **(I don't know if she actually drinks tea, it just fits the character.) **when the very same man who had been writhing in agony a few hours ago walked in like all was normal and made a cup of coffee. As he settled in with his lower back leaning against the counter he pulled down his mask with his free hand and took a long drink of the dark liquid. Zoey expected to see his scar as it had been the night before, black slime and matter oozing from the wound, but when he pulled down the mask there was nothing but a normal scar.

It was as if the goo had stopped flowing in the night and he had cleaned himself in the morning. She chose to ignore this strange happening when he set down his (now empty) cup and spoke.

"Well, I suppose we should start training you today." Zoey was taken aback by this but didn't argue, or even mention what she had seen. She figured that if he had wanted her to know he would have told her. She still wondered though, as most people would.

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**Well, there you go. Let me know what you think he's dreaming about in the reviews other than that, see you in the next chapter!**


	7. Lessons Begin

**Chapter seven, wow. This is going better than I expected. Thanks again for all the review guys and girls!**

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**Chapter Seven - Lessons Begin**

Zoey followed her teacher into down the hall and into a room filled with hellstone, lapis lazuli and other assorted things she assumed were magical. He walked to the center of the room and turned around,

"Alright, what do you already know about magic?" Her features went blank for a moment, then she had something.

"I enchanted a pickaxe once." The look on his face would've made diamonds turn to liquid.

"Anything else?" He asked hopefully. Zoey thought for a second before she responded.

"Nope." He sighed.

"Okay. Lets start with the basics then, shall we?" Zoey nodded eagerly.

**The next few weeks were filled with textbooks, chalkboard diagrams, and extensive explanations. Zoey tried her best to learn about magic, but she struggled. Often her master would finish an explanation and look at her as if to ask 'Do you get it now?' Only for her to stare back blankly at him. He was patient though. The disappointment would appear only for a second, then he would explain it to her again, as simply as he possibly could until she got it. After a month she was finally past the basics and starting to learn about the more advanced stuff.**

"Alright, so I put this in the bottom box then I take it out again, but then I put this thing in here and it does...What does it do again?" The girl looked up from the white and purple tablet on the table, begging for help.

"You put it in the bottom so that the tablet learns how to make it, then you put all of these in here and put the klein star in the right so it charges up." He explained for the upteenth time. She nodded, her brow furrowing in concentration. So far she had made herself an alchemical bag, a philosopher's stone, a set of diamond armor and had learned how to use a condenser and a transmutation tablet. That had taken her all week.

"I did it!" She squealed happily. Her klien star was charged all the way up.

"Good," Rythian praised her over his shoulder, reaching into the chest, pulling out four feathers, four dark purple orbs, one iron band and opening a book to a page with a diagram.

"Now make this." The diagram had the purple orbs around the iron band with the feathers squashed around the corners. The diagram was labeled 'Swiftwolfs Rending Gale'

"What does this do?" Zoey asked, the mage just handed her the book and leaned against the wall. She picked up one of the orbs of dark purple and the iron band. The purple orb felt like soft clay, she squished it onto the iron, and pushed the feathers in around the four corners. There was an audible 'pop' and the materials turned into a ring that glowed in her hand slightly.

"Ahh, what does it do?" She asked again, Rythian smiled, stepping back and hopping off the ground, it would have been nothing spectacular, if he had come back down afterwards. As it happened he remained floating in midair, arms crossed as if he did that every day of his life.

"This." He explained. "The swiftwolfs rending gale gives you the power of flight." A smile slowly crept onto her face and she put the ring on, it activated and she went straight to the ceiling, careful not to hit her head.

"This is so cool! Can we go test this outside?"

"I don't see why not." Zoey whooped and tried to fly out the door, but missed and nearly crashed. She deactivated the ring and ran outside. He dropped to the floor and chuckled as he heard the ring come to life and her shouts of delight faded out in the distance. Walking outside he was greeted by her upside down face falling into his view, her hair was more wild than usual and her smile wider.

"Oh my gosh! This is so cool! Thank you!" She dropped to her feet and hugged him, enthusiasm radiating off of her in waves. It only took a second though and she was off again. Flying straight up through the air and shouting down at him.

Rythian leaned his shoulder against one of the posts that made up the entrance and contented himself with watching her fly. His gaze was drawn down to the ground as her shadow looped and twisted in the sky behind his own. He smiled at hers, then frowned at his shadow, curling his hidden lips downwards.

The shadow's reply to this was to look at the girl's as she flew past, turning its head differently from the way it's human counterpart was facing. Rythian stood and walked out of the light of the setting sun, trying to avoid the shadow that was always there.

Zoey felt the rush of air against her face and relished the feeling. She was soaring through the air at breakneck speed, her eyes closed and the wind whistling in her fiery hair. She stopped for a moment and opened her eyes, taking in the beautiful scene that lay before her.

The sun was visible, going down between the treetops and the fog. She waved at the sinking ball of flame. She would often do this.

"Zoeya! Zoeya!" That was Rythian. He insisted on calling her by her full name despite her telling him it was fine to address her as simply Zoey.

"I'm coming!" She stretched her arms out in front of her, making the superhero pose and flying towards the castle. When she reached it she found the mage standing just inside the front door, holding it open for her.

Zoey landed and ran in so she was behind him. He looked out once more then carefully closed and locked the door. He then walked into the kitchen, motioning with his hand for her to follow. He crossed the white marble floor and opened one of the cabinets, he pulled out two bowls, some chicken for himself and mushrooms for her. He put the chicken in one bowl, the mushrooms in another. He then set the bowls on the counter and waved his hands over them. Turning around with a steaming bowl of stew in each of his hands, holding out the one with the mushrooms to her.

"Thanks." She took it gratefully, the spongy texture soft and warm, a welcome reminder of her mushroom village back home. The rest of the soup was downed in a few satisfied gulps, the same scenario played out for Rythian after he pulled his mask down around his neck. He took her empty bowl shortly after and set both in the sink. They stood in the kitchen, the silence deafening. It was finally broken by Rythian yawning under his mask.

"I'm going to bed, if you need anything just yell." Zoey listened to his footsteps as they receded up the stairs and stopped at approximately where his bed was. The realisation that she was alone in the near dark hit her painfully. Zoey swallowed and hurried to her room.

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**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of laziness! The next one is more intense so, that should be cool. Review for more and enjoy the story!**


	8. The Shadows Can Kill

**Now things start to get more intense. **

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**Chapter Eight - Shadow Scratches**

"What was that?!" The red haired girl panted, sitting up in bed and clutching the covers over her chest. She settled back down as she realised that it was nothing but her own breathing. Zoey settled back down in bed before deciding that she was too unnerved to sleep. She walked to the bookcase and choose a book at random.

"Equivalent Exchange Volume One: The Basics" She read the title aloud, shrugged, then went to sit back down in the bed when something outside the window caught her eye. She peered out to just over the wooded hill on the backside of the castle. Her brow furrowed and she saw a tall, inky black shadow bent over with a stick in its hands.

The creature looked to be seven feet tall, most of its mass were its skin and bony arms and legs, its torso had less fat than a bone and its spine was bent over at an odd angle.

Zoey squinted her eyes and shaded her sight from the torch on the wall with her hand. As she looked closer she saw the creature freeze. Its back (which was currently turned towards the girl) started shaking, and the creature turned around to face her.

She froze in horror as the monster looked at her with its hungry eyes and gaping mouth. Its eyes were a infuriated shade of purple and its mouth was lined with shark like teeth the same color as the marble that made up the floor. The monster shook in anger, its mouth was trapped in a hissing position. Zoey rubbed her tired eyes and looked back out to find...

Nothing. The shadow had gone and the hill was once again deserted.

"Maybe it was just in my head." She thought aloud, looking outside one more time. Wait, there it was again.

Just at the bottom of the hill, much closer this time. Zoey swallowed and went to the window again. She blinked and the shadow was gone again.

Zoey felt panic rising in her throat, where was it now? Would it be able to get her?

"Oh my gosh!" She suddenly flung herself away from the window with a shriek. The monster was right up against the window now. It was staring at her with its huge, scaly hands on either side of its face.

She screamed in terror and scooted herself back a few feet. The creature smiled grimly at her and used its giant fists to smash the window, having to duck slightly to crawl inside.

It swiped one of its long claws at her and caused a tear to appear on her sleeve, another swipe resulted in her lower left leg sliced open and pumping out blood.

Zoey whimpered and scooted back until her spine struck the cool stone of the far wall. She stared up at the monster that threatened to take her life and a single tear trailed down her left cheek. The creature swiped again, this time shredding her pant leg. It reared to strike the final blow and Zoey turned her face away, waiting for a cut to open on her throat.

There was a strange warping sound and a shrill screech cut through the air. The fire haired girl looked up to see the monster fall forward onto its knees, the tip of a silver blade was pulled back from it's abdomen, the creature gagged once more, then collapsed to the side, it's indigo eyes glazing over.

Zoey's eyes fell upon a new shadow, this one had a calming aura about him. She choked back a sob of relief and gasped her hero's name.

"R-Rythian." He quieted her gently and she felt his arms go under her back and knees, her hands wrapped around his neck like a scared child. She was slowly lifted into the air and away from the bloody and torn apart room, the mage steering her into the bathroom so he could clean her wounds.

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**This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews.**


	9. The Shadows Leave Scars

**I sort of consider this one of my lower-quality chapters. Don't hate me, constructive criticism would be nice in the reviews though. **

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**Chapter Nine - Shadow Scars**

Rythian set the red haired girl down on the edge of the bathtub, taking off his cloak and wrapping it around her shaking shoulders before turning around so he could retrieve some healing materials.

"Zoeya?" She looked down at her lap, holding the cape like it was a blanket from her childhood.

"Zoeya." He tried again, and failed to catch her gaze.

"Zoey." He put a hand under her chin and brought her gaze to meet his own. "I have to clean your scratches now, and it's going to hurt, a lot." She nodded slowly, the adrenaline was clearly out of her system now and she was going to start feeling those any second. She bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut, nodding to let her master know that she was ready.

Rythian's fingers closed around a bottle of clear liquid and he winced as he poured the liquid over her torn and tattered flesh. Looking back up at her face it was clear it took everything she had to keep from crying out.

"Zoeya, Zoey." She opened her mouth and forced her eyes open, finding herself face to face with Rythian. In his hand were the remainder of a bandage and some medical tape.

"Its over." He informed her. She looked down at her throbbing leg to find most of the cloth torn off, and the bandages already tinted slightly with blood. She pressed her hand into the man's shoulder in an attempt to stand but ended up in a heap in his arms.

"Don't try to walk, it'll only make the cuts worse." With that he scooped her up again and led the currently crippled girl into his bedroom, setting her down on one side of the bed and laying himself down on the other.

"You'll have to stay in here for tonight, I'm afraid that room will be unusable until I clean it out. I'm sure theres plenty of ro-" What he was about to say was that they could sleep on opposite sides of the bed without disturbing one another. He never got to finish due to the red haired mess that found itself resting on his chest. He looked down at Zoey, slightly taken aback.

"I don't wanna be alone." She whispered, clearly terrified and almost inaudibly. He placed a hand on her head, smoothing her messy hair and soon found that she had fallen into the rhythm of someone who was asleep.

Rythian groaned slightly as the sun forced him to wake up, the man began to get up but stopped when he remembered the origins of the weight on his chest. Forcing the sleep out of his eyes he saw his apprentice, still sleeping and now curled into a tight ball facing him. He originally wanted to get up but something stopped him.

'_I shouldn't wake her up just yet.'_ He thought. Resting his hand on her shoulder and allowing sleep to overtake him again.

Zoey blinked open her eyes and stretched her arms, sitting up and hanging her feet over the edge of the bed. She stiffened when her leg touched the floor, wincing with the pain that shot up her wounded appendage. She heaved herself up and was about to limp into the bathroom when she saw movement in her room.

She eased the door open, leaning on the wooden handle and peeking around the corner. There she found Rythian struggling with the body of the monster, attempting to move it from the floor. When he finally managed to heave onto his shoulders he turned around and noticed his apprentice watching him from the door. He shifted the weight of the monster on his shoulders and started heading for the broken window.

"Zoey, stay inside, I need to get rid of this thing." She nodded and closed the door, hearing his swiftwolf rending gale activate and he flew off through the broken window.

Zoey found herself walking down the stairs to the kitchen (leaning heavily on the wall the whole way) and making herself a cup of tea. She had only just sat down when the doors opened then slammed shut.

Rythian was back. He walked into the room, his shoulders were covered in blood. He looked at his cape and seemed to notice the blood for the first time.

"Your cape," She started. Rythian looked at his shoulders and a snarl found its way onto his face.

"Damn Endermen." He hissed under his breath, then his attention changed to the welfare of his apprentice.

"How's your leg?" He looked down at the appendage that was currently set at an awkward position, sticking out from under the table to keep it straight.

"Its better now. I still can't put much weight on it." Rythian chewed his lower lip and appeared to be thinking.

"Here," He knelt down to be at the same level as her leg, he brought his hand up, but stopped midway when she flinched.

"I'm going to use my magic to try to heal you faster, at the very least I can gain you some more mobility, the most will have the wound fully healed." Zoey nodded, and the mage continued. His hand rested on her lower calf and started to glow violet. The pain was immediately lifted, he slowly unwrapped the bandage. She gawked at the fresh skin that had replaced the bloody gash.

"Thanks!" She stammered.

"No problem." He brushed off his knees and grabbed an empty mug, he snapped his fingers and some steam appeared over the cup. He yanked down his mask and sipped the coffee nonchalantly.

"Well, business as usual today?" She asked. Rythian swallowed and shook his head.

"No, I have to clean out your room." She gave him a puzzled look.

"I know blood stains take some effort, but it will it really take that long?" He sucked in a breath, then released it.

"Endermen are something different altogether. They take longer to clean up, blood and body wise. As well as the fact that they leave bad magic, or flux, in their wake which also takes a lot of resources and time to take care of." Zoey lowered her head, nodding.

"Is there any way I can help?" She asked, his gaze bolted from the coffee to her eyes,

"No, Zoey you need to stay out of the way for this." She was slightly taken aback by the bluntness as opposed to his usually gentle and roundabout answers.

"Okay, I'll just do something else then." Rythian thought hard. He really needed her as far away from the house as possible today. A thought suddenly struck him.

"Zoey, didn't you say something about wanting to make a farm somewhere?" Her eyes lit up with hope. Every time she had asked about this the mage had turned her down.

"Really?" She hopped up, her remaining soreness forgotten about.

"Yeah, we need some fresh food anyways." Zoey smiled and crossed to kitchen to hug her master.

"Thank you so much!" She released her grip on his midsection and bolted off to the magic room, she would need to get as much dirt, water and seeds as possible. Zoey gathered the materials and made an iron hoe and some buckets, then was off to the plains nearby. She set down her materials and laid them out so they looked more organized.

"Okay," She thought aloud to herself. "Where do I start?" For a few minutes she just stood in front of her materials, thinking and planning out what would go where.

"I got it!" She sprang to life and started bolting around the grassy area, digging holes in rows, filling them with water, planting everything from pumpkins to sugarcane. When she was done Zoey stood with her fists on her hips and a proud feeling about to burst through her chest. She smiled over the new farm, pleased with how everything looked. The only thing that pulled her out of her shining self confidence was the voice of Rythian from behind her.

"Well, you got far today." She turned around and puffed up again,

"Like it? I think I did pretty well."

"You did, and it only took you most of the day."

"Wait, what?" Zoey whirled looked up and saw the sun setting between the giant trees and the rolling layer of under-fog.

"Wow, that felt like twenty minutes." She brought her hand to her head and wiped away the sticky sweat that lay there. Rythian chuckled in his friendly way.

"Well, if you want you can show me around the farm before it gets too dark." He offered, Zoey lit up like a christmas tree again.

"Okay, well, here is where the wheat grows," She hurried over to some green fronds that were beginning to come up through the mud.

"And here is where the sugarcane is planted." She moved over to the tall, yellowy green material and held onto one of the stalks.

"I put the pumpkins and the melons here next to one another." Zoey stood between two of the plants.

"And I set up a some potatoes and carrots so we can eat those as well." She folded her hands behind her back and smiled widely, awaiting judgement from the mage.

"It looks great Zoey," Her smile widened tenfold and her chest puffed up even more.

"Thanks." He flashed a charming smile at her then spoke up again.

"I guess we should get inside." He started walking back towards the castle.

"Yeah." She followed him closely, stealing a glance at the setting sun as she did so. When they got back inside he mage carefully closed and locked the door behind her as he did every night.

"So, did you get all the...stuff in my room cleaned up?" He shook his head.

"No, the flux will take some time to clean, my magic is working on it now but it will take most of the next few days. Until then you'll have to sleep somewhere else."

"Oh, well..." She looked away shyly, he had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

"This is awkward but...maybe we could...we could share?" He gave her a glance, was that nervousness she saw? "I don't really want to be alone after what happened before." She added quickly. Rythian still looked a bit freaked out but nodded slowly.

"Okay, we can put a pillow or something in the middle anyways." She smiled appreciatively and they headed up to bed. Rythian moved one of the pillows to the middle and removed his cloak, mask coming with it.

She crawled under the sheets and rolled over, hoping to be able to ignore the man now so close to her. He soon slipped in beside her, keeping his distance from the pillow wall but still close enough for her to hear his breathing.

"Goodnight Rythian." She said, somewhat nervously.

******"****Goodnight Zoey." He responded the same way. The bed groaned slightly as he leaned over from his sleeping position and snuffed out the torch. **

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**Hope you enjoyed reading!**


	10. The Crooked Caber

**Chapter Ten - The Crooked Caber**

"Mmm." Zoey smiled and shifted in her sleep. Scooting inward slightly and hugging the soft cushion to her chest. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and found themselves being met by the face of a man who was currently sleeping. Zoey smiled before she remembered, she had fallen asleep next to Rythian. And now was staring at his sleeping form. Before she could get up the energy to move the mage's eyes flung open and he was wide awake, staring right back at her.

"M-Morning." She stuttered, trying not to be awkward by sitting up and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Morning." He returned the greeting by rolling over and swinging his feet over the side of the bed. Zoey managed to steal a glance at his back while he pulled his cloak on and fixed his mask so that it came up to just above his nose.

"I'm going to make some breakfast." Rythian slipped his alchemical bag onto his belt and hurried

off to the kitchen, leaving Zoey alone in the bedroom. She took her time getting ready, eventually dragging herself out from under the covers and fixing her red cape. She finished just as the warm scent of tea and eggs reached her. **(not sure if she actually eats these but I've been informed that most vegetarians do eat eggs) **She came down to the first floor to find the mage stirring what looked to be two eggs around in a cast iron frying pan. There were already two plates and two mugs set out on the table. One was filled to the brim with a dark brew of coffee, the other had a tea bag that was letting its juices seep into the hot water.

Zoey sat down at one of the plates to have a serving of eggs slide onto her plate. She looked up to see Rythian slide the remainder of the food onto his plate and sit down across from her. He pulled down his mask as he did to eat. She followed suit, shoveling bite after bite into her mouth, the pair were soon finished and started for the door.

"Alright Zoey, now we need to start some of your physical training." Rythian stopped just outside and onto the grass.

"What do you mean by that?" He sucked in a breath, this signalled to Zoey that he was about to give one of his longer explanations.

"When you become a full mage you get a dragon to help keep you, your home, and your magic safe. To do this though, you need to catch your own dragon. So today, I'm going to teach you how to ride one." She nodded slowly. The mage whistled shrilly and a shadow was cast over the two. It was soon discovered that the -evidently dramatic entrance loving- dragon, Quinn was above, and that she was simply landing.

Upon meeting her mage the dragon curled her scaly body around him, nuzzling and licking him with her large, forked tongue.

"Alright Quinn." He gently pushed her snout away. "Time to take Zoey for a ride." The dragon looked at the girl and snorted. The dragon looked like she was about to take off again, spreading her wings and starting in the opposite direction.

"No." He grabbed the reins of her bridle and pulled the disgruntled dragon back towards him. He extended his hand towards Zoey. She hesitated at first but took his hand, he pulled her into him and held her right hand by the wrist, holding the dragon's reins in the other and bringing the two closer.

"Rythian," Zoey expressed her fear but he only looked at her. He brought her hand closer to the dragon's snout.

"Rythian I really don't think-"

"Zoey," He caught her gaze. "Just trust me." She nodded and let him move her hand forward. She felt her fingers brush the scales of the dragons snout. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for something to bite her arm off. The only thing she felt was the snout provide more pressure on the palm of her outstretched hand and Rythian removing his hand from her wrist. Zoey opened one eye, seeing the dragon standing calmly, her eyes were more friendly looking **(think toothless' -from How To Train Your Dragon- friendly eyes)**

"See, nothing to be scared of." Zoey breathed out and smiled.

"I thought she hated me or something." The dragon pulled her nose away and stood, looking especially regal.

"She didn't hate you, she just didn't trust you. My letting you touch her means that I trust you and that I want her to trust you." Zoey smiled at the giant lizard that was now sniffing her intently. Rythian smiled, then coughed. In an instant Quinn was standing tall with her wings spread in the air. Zoey looked to her master for directions.

"Up you go." He flicked his gaze upwards towards the dragon's bare back. The fire haired girl clambered up, her master followed close behind, sitting right behind her and reaching around to grab the reins.

"Hold the reins where my hands are." He instructed, Zoey slipped her hands in the place his had previously been.

"Now, you've ridden a horse before?" Zoey nodded her head.

"Getting a dragon to fly is just getting her to move forward, she'll take off on her own." The girl nodded and flicked the reins.

Quinn started to move forward at a calm pace, then she sped up a bit, then a bit more, until she was sprinting and spreading her wings. The dragon leapt off the ground and caught an updraft, soaring higher and higher with every wing beat.

Zoey gripped the back of the dragon with her legs and clenched her fists. She almost closed her eyes but realised that the dragon was awaiting her command. Zoey tried to move but found herself scared stiff. It was then that she felt the arms come around her waist and support her paralysed arms. She heard her masters voice from right next to her ear.

"Its alright, just close your eyes and think like you're riding a horse." She sucked in a breath and, in a huge leap of trust, closed her eyes.

"Okay." She pulled her left arm back and felt the creature's head move in sync. Then the dragon suddenly lurched to the side and her eyes flew open.

"Its okay," Rythian reassured her. "She was just avoiding a tree." Zoey nodded, she closed her eyes and steered the dragon again.

Several hours later found the pair still at it. The fire haired ponytail girl had just managed to get the hang of it when Rythian spoke up.

"I think thats enough for today." She blinked open her eyes and turned to look at him, a smile plastered on her face. He returned the smile and took the reins.

"Do you know where the castle is?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, I think I want to take the long way home though. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, I could go for that." She squinted at the glare of the sun just visible beneath the under-fog. Rythian smiled at her and took control, steering up into the cloud-like vapor and instantly losing most of his vision. He took a few twists and turns, then they came out of the cloud. Zoey blinked and gasped, taking in the pink and orange of the sun as it set over the clouds.

"It's beautiful." She breathed, still looking at the horizon. She turned to thank her master and found him considerably closer than he had been before. Her cheeks started to turn red and she faced forward again.

"Something the matter?" He asked, bringing the dragon down on a mountain top just over the under-fog.

"I'm fine." Zoey still did not want to meet his gaze. She opted instead for staring into the clouds and wandering about on the small area of land the trio had. She heard Rythian shout from behind her and felt the ground below start to give way. Before she could fall off the high cliff they had perched on, a pair of slim but strong arms gripped her waist and held her above the dirt and grass that was now tumbling towards the earth below. Zoey held tighter to the warm body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to hold herself up. She buried her face in the material of his shirt, the adrenaline of the moment leaving her more shaken and fearful than normal.

"Zoey are you okay?" She felt her feet touch solid ground and released her grip slightly.

"I'm fine." She stared back up at him feeling her cheeks grow red again as her feet touched down but her master's hands remained around her waist and her arms stayed wrapped around his neck. Her eyes found their way to his and their gazes locked. His eyes glowed a soft lilac and hers the same deep ocean blue they always had.

Zoey felt herself leaning closer, her eyes beginning to close. Just as their lips were about to come together, she felt Rythian lean back up so that his back was straight, she opened her eyes and looked at him in a daze.

"Sorry." She looked down at her shoes.

"It's..uh...it's fine." He trailed off, looking down also. They stood in silence for awhile, each too nervous to speak. Rythian was the first to break the quiet, clearing his throat first.

"So, we should probably head back to Blackrock. I have something I have to do elsewhere so I'll just drop you off and-" He was abruptly cut off by an indignant Zoey.

"What makes you think I'm not going with you?" She stepped back (careful to not come too close to the edge) and placed her hands on her hips.

"I just thought..." Rythian stopped talking and started chuckling. "I guess I was wrong though, wasn't I?" She nodded and leapt aboard the dragon. All previous embarrassment forgotten, the man climbed up after her, sitting just ahead of her and taking the reins.

"Alright Quinn, to the Crooked Caber we go." The dragon gave an odd sort of chirp, then spread her wings and took flight.

Ravs hummed slightly as he wiped down the top of the bar. He stopped and sighed. He

hadn't seen his best, no his **only** customer in a over a month.

He sighed again and walked to the front of the Crooked Caber. Sitting down at one of the outdoor tables and watching the dock that extended out into the water of the lake he had positioned his bar on. He sighed for the third time in a row. Staring at the suddenly very interesting bark of the pine nearest to him.

Then he heard a noise that caused his excitement to grow exponentially. He heard the sound of giant wing beats against the air, the wind rushing through his dark hair and seeing the dragon of his best friend land on the docks. He watched with a huge smile on his face as Rythian jumped down and smiled widely at the scotsman.

"Hey Rythian, where ya been mate?"

"I uh, I got some extra responsibilities." He looked over his shoulder at the dragon to where a young redheaded girl was dismounting. She dropped to the ground and came over, shaking Ravs hand.

"Hi, I'm Zoey!"

"Ravs." The two broke apart and it was Rythian's turn to speak again.

"So, Ravs," The height difference between the two was impressive to say the least. Rythian being incredibly tall and Ravs being slightly less than normal height.

"Got anything new you want me to try?" The bartender smiled and motioned the two inside, they walked inside and each took a seat at the bar. The scotsman walked behind the bar and disappeared down a hidden stairwell, coming back up with three stone mugs in one hand and a barrel under his arm. He set the barrel on the bar counter and filled the mugs to the brim, handing one to Rythian, one to Zoey and leaving one for himself. Rythian pulled down his mask and let it hang around his neck as he emptied his mug. Ravs followed suit, slamming his mug down on the counter in a manner that could have been taken as competitive.

"Damn Ravs, that was good." Rythian chuckled, handing the bartender his mug for a refill.

"Ya think?" He smiled as he filled the cup with foam and liquid as Zoey continued to sip her cup.

"Oh yeah. Keep this one around." He took the mug from Ravs and took another long drink. Ravs turned to Zoey.

"Well?" He asked.

"This is really good." She nodded, feeling slightly dizzy and starting to see stars.

**The three spent the evening talking and enjoying the drinks served by the ever drunk Ravs. It was several hours before the mage decided it was time to take a very drunk Zoey back home. **

"Okay Ravs, we'll see you sometime soon." He laughed as the pair walked out the doors. Ravs shouted something unintelligible and passed out on the bar. Rythian grinned again, shaking his head and chuckling.

He got outside and looked around for his dragon. She was nowhere to be found. He whistled, still nothing. Rythian put his hands on his hips and tried again. Still nothing. He hissed silently. She did this too often for her own good. Rythian was suddenly brought back to the present by a red haired drunk girl leaning against him and giggling uncontrollably.

"Okay Zoey." He patiently pushed her an arms length away, only for her to fall back against him. She giggled again, then started snoring on his shoulder. Rythian sighed, supporting her in his arms and activating his flying ring, holding the limp body of the girl in his arms and heading back to Blackrock. He supported her back and legs, her fiery hair flying and twisting in the smoothe midnight breeze. Rythian felt his mask plastering flat against his neck as he had left it, his hair attempting to move out of his face.

"Are we almost there Rythian?" The girl asked groggily as Blackrock came into view.

"Yeah, Zoey. We're almost there." They landed and the mage carried Zoey inside bridal style. As he came through the doors she pulled herself up slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling into his cloak and tightening into a ball.

"I'm tired." She complained drunkenly as he walked up the stairs to the room they shared, only for the time being of course.

"Okay, Zoey. You just get some rest." He laid her down on the bed and pulled the sheets up over her top. As he went to walk away he felt her hands grasp the back of his cloak and pull it back to her chest.

"Zoey..." He tried to pull it back from her but she held on.

******"Zoey, le-" He was about to ask her to let go, the only thing that stopped him was a pair of whiskey flavored lips crashing against his own. Zoey had pulled on his cape when he wasn't ready, and yanked him into a half drink induced kiss.**

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**Trolololol! Cliffhanger! Seriously though, tell me what you think in the reviews. I love reading them and you guys are just too great, I really want your opinion on this!**


	11. Well, this is awkward

**Okay, seriously. You guys rock. I cannot say how happy I am this is getting so much love. Now, without further ado. Onto the story! Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Eleven - Well, this is awkward**

At first the mage was too shocked to move, then he felt his hand slip around the back of her head, pulling her further into the kiss. When they finally broke apart all obvious signs of alcoholic influence seemed to have disappeared from Zoey, and were now working their magic in Rythian, causing him to see everything in a hazy fog and Zoey a blur lust and wanting. The first and only affect the drink would have on him. Suddenly wanting nothing but the red head, he brought her back to him. Their lips connected again, Zoey being the one who was taken off guard now. Her fuzzy mind soon caught up with her body, arms twisting around the back of his neck and pulling her torso up towards his. They broke apart again, staring into each others eyes. Her ocean blue and his intense, bright purple.

"Do you still want me to let go?" She teased. Rythian chuckled, purring something surprisingly well enunciated for how incredibly inebriated he was.

"Fair enough."

Zoey pulled him in once more and kissing passionately. As they kissed her left hand traveled up

and ran through his soft brown hair, while her right dropped to his chest, coming back up under his cape and resting on his shoulder. Her fingers tensed and unclenched, massaging the shoulder of her lover as they moved behind his neck. They broke apart for the third time, breathing heavily with their foreheads almost touching. Zoey smiled into another kiss and started pulling the collar of his cloak upwards, over his head and managing to only break apart for a short period of time. The mage mirrored her actions and removed her short red cape.

**The rest of the night would remain nothing more than a drunken haze to both Rythian and Zoey, little did they know, it was only the start of all the chaos.**

Rythian woke to the sound of soft breathing and birds chirping outside, to the smell of alcohol mixed with a small amount of perfume.

He opened his eyes and found his vision blurred by a fog of red hair. He could still taste the drink from the night before. He groggily sat up, careful not to disturb the girl in bed next to him. Rythian sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, the marble cold against his bare feet. He looked down and realized for the first time that he was completely naked save for his boxers.

"Huh," He thought out loud, slightly worriedly. Not remembering undressing before bed. The girl who lay on the bed behind him groaned as if she were just waking up.

The mage turned around and saw his apprentice sitting up, clad in a large white shirt of his. **Only **the large white shirt of his. She sat up straight and stretched her arms, rubbing sleep from her eyes afterwards and glancing at the man who was staring at her back. She could see in his face that some of the previous nights events had come back, hitting him like a train. His eyes fell to the marble floor and his head into his hands.

"Oh shit." He hissed in a barely audible whisper. Zoey was confused for a moment, both wondering what her master was worried about and why she was in nothing but a plain white shirt that was clearly too large for her. She was soon struck with the realization of last night's events, if somewhat fuzzily.

"What happened last night?" She asked though she dreaded the answer. Rythian just shook his head and moaned as if he had done something he truly and deeply regretted. Zoey looked worriedly at her masters lack of clothing as well as her own, this accompanied by the mess of sheets and covers that was now the bed led her to the truth.

"Did we...?" She looked up at him,

"We did." He groaned from the other side of the bed. Burying his head further into his arms and whining like a dog who had just been struck by their owner.

The awkward silence was unbearable. It had probably only been a few minutes but to Zoey it felt like hours she had been staring at his back.

Eventually she steeled her nerves and got up to walk around the bed. She stopped and sat next to Rythian.

"Zoey, what are we going to do?" He asked, not looking up. "I have to tell someone and when that happens we both lose all rank and respectability."

They both sat in more of the heavy silence.

"We could always just keep it our secret." She whispered, almost inaudibly, as if she was ashamed. Rythian looked up, not meeting her gaze, and nodded. Zoe smiled shyly, then headed out of the room to make her breakfast.

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**Well. That was interesting. Thoughts? Put it in the reviews!**


	12. A Wild Ridgedog Appears

**Okay, I know you guys came for the story, but first, a little thank you for all the love and support I've received. On almost every chapter I write somebody responds in a positive way. I never thought you guys would like this so much and I just have to say how incredibly grateful I am that you actually take the time to tell me that my writing is worth reading. You guys are awesome, amazing, tremendous, supportive and everything else wonderful that my vocabulary cannot even begin to express. Thanks for reading, remember to keep reviewing, and above all enjoy the story!**

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Chapter Twelve - A Wild Ridgedog Appears

Zoey heated a pot of water on the stove and poured it into her cup, listening to the heavy footfalls of Rythian come down the stairs. She placed a tea-bag in the cup and heard the door to the kitchen open then close. She stirred her cup with a spoon and turned to find her master sitting at the table with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

From there the two could almost say that everything was back to normal. Save for the obvious tension. The only thing that would have made things awkward again was another being coming for a visit. This is where things fell apart a bit. Then, just at that moment, a wild Ridgedog appeared.

They both looked up at the door, confusion clouding their gazes.

"Were you expecting someone?" Zoey asked, not letting her gaze leave the door.

"No." Rythian stood up and peeked out the window, pulling back with a panicked expression when he realised who it was.

"Shit." He swore in a whisper.

"What?!" Zoey franticly whispered back.

"Go get dressed, and hurry." He commanded her upstairs, she put her hands on her hips indignantly, but left. As soon as she was gone Rythian fixed his cloak, pulling his mask up over his nose and putting on a dignified glare. He took a huge breath in and went to the door. He pulled the wooden door open and found himself almost eye to eye with Ridgedog and four of his guards. (Almost, he was still taller by a few inches.)

"Hello Ridge." The mage grumbled stiffly.

"Hey Rythian." Ridge responded in his ever-pleasant manner.

"What are you doing here?" Always to the point, Rythian was not shy in pointing out the Emperor's lack of warning.

"Oh, just dropping by. Thought I'd see how you're doing with your first student." Ridge was wearing a grin the size of his manor (which was quite large) as he talked.

"She's fine." The mage growled, attempting to shut the door. He stopped when a meaty hand gripped the wooden frame and held it firm. Rythian narrowed his eyes at the goon that was holding the door open. His glare moving from the heavy man to Ridge.

The emperor was not surprised that Rythian was being difficult. He was known amongst the masters as the most irritable and it was a fact that he liked to spend most of his time alone. Therefore Ridge turned the other cheek to the mage's hostility and tried again, putting on his biggest smile and trying to keep the strain out of his voice.

"We would like to see and talk to her if thats okay." Rythian glared around at the four men before his gaze rested on the cheshire dog in the center of all the muscle. He sucked in a breath through his nostrils, then conceded.

"You can come in," The mage pointed at Ridge, then motioned to his guards. "they have to wait out here." The four men were about to move in on the slim framed man standing in the doorway when Ridge held up his hand.

"It's fine boys, I'll just be a few moments." With that the men formed a wall behind their master facing away from the door. Ridge's smile broadened even more and he walked inside.

Rythian closed the door and gave the men outside one more hostile glance.

"Now, what do you really want?" The mage crossed his arms and looked at Ridge. The smile stayed on his face as he explained.

"Oh, I wasn't lying when I said I was checking up on you guys. This is just a little something I do to make sure that you two are getting along." Rythian did not seem convinced in the slightest, something else he was known for was his paranoia.

Just as Ridge was starting to get angry with the master of magic, Zoey bounced down the stairs, her short red cape fluttering behind her.

"Oh, hello your majesty." She smiled cheerily as she reached the bottom of the marble slabs.

"Please," The emperor put a hand up. "Call me Ridge." He put on his most charming smile and extended his hand to her. Zoey took his hand and shook it hesitantly, smiling more shyly as she did so.

"Well then," The cheshire dog straightened his spine and turned to Rythian. "How have you two been getting along?" They both stiffened and tried to answer at the same time.

"We're doing fine." Ridge managed to decipher among all the bumbling of tongues. When they finally stopped tripping over their words the monarch cocked an eyebrow at the normally calm and composed Rythian and the carefree seeming Zoey looking anxious.

"Alright," He turned to the mage, still slightly weirded out. "How has she been doing in her training?" Rythian looked distant, but quickly snapped back to life.

"Oh, yeah, she's doing great." Ridge didn't press the man. He assumed that living with such a ball of energy had drained him and made him even more stressed, and...well, strange.

"Okay then, well I'll just be going now." Ridge turned and walked out the door.

Rythian watched, holding his breath as he waited for the emperor to leave, only exhaling when he was sure the five men were gone.

"What's this?" Zoey asked, picking up a letter that was now on the table. Rythian, who had dropped his head into his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose, looked up again. He nodded for her to open the letter.

Zoey slid her finger in between the lip of the envelope and pried it open. From there she unfolded a note with some colorful designs on the border and read aloud.

"You are cordially invited to a party for all the masters and their apprentices." She looked up at the mage with a confused expression. Rythian groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose again. Zoey continued reading.

"The party will be at sunset, in four days on the date of July 27. It will be hosted at the manor of Ridgedog." She looked back at Rythian, still bewildered and waiting for some kind of explanation.

"What's this?"

"It's one of Ridge's pointless parties." He didn't seem to want to go into further detail. Whether that was due to poor past experiences Zoey couldn't tell but she left the subject alone.

"So," The pony tail girl set the card down and tried to lighten the mood. "What are we doing for training today?"

"We aren't doing anything. It's your day off." He reminded her lightly.

"Oh, okay." She sat down in one of the chairs around the table and went back to her (now slightly colder) tea.

"I'm going upstairs." Rythian growled.

"Alright." Zoey listened absentmindedly to his footsteps as they disappeared up the stairs.

The mage tried to banish the thoughts of Ridge from his mind to work, striding into the flux filled room and feeling the uneasiness that came along with the bad magic. He closed his eyes and focused his mind as much as possible, he would need it to give the final heave that would push the flux out of his castle.

Hours of tireless working and endless problems threw themselves at the mage in relentless waves. As he tried to force the bad magic out it pushed back just as stubbornly. With a final effort he shoved, pushing as if it was a physical object he was forcing out, then collapsing onto the now clean floor breathing heavily.

"God." He flopped onto his back, chest rising and falling in deep, long breaths.

"Hi Rythian." The mage jumped slightly at hearing Zoey speak from the door that was now open.

"Hi Zoey." He went back to panting from his place on the floor.

"Are you okay?" He sat up and rested his elbow on his knee.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He reassured her and started to stand.

Zoey would have believed him, if he had managed to get up on his own. Add it happened, he got about halfway up and stumbled backwards, his back striking the wall as he blinked and held his forehead.

"Oh my gosh, Rythian!" She rushed over, supporting his shoulder and looking worriedly into his eyes.

"I'm fine." He repeated, a little dazed. Placing his hand on the wall he managed to push off and stand, still with Zoey's hand on his shoulder and part of his back. She moved in front of his and tried to catch his gaze. He ignored her worried looks and tried to push past. The redhead was not at all pleased with this and grabbed his cheeks under the mask, pulling his eyes down into hers.

"Are you okay?" She held his gaze but checked him over for superficial wounds.

"Yes." The girl still looked doubtful, but she gingerly pulled her hands away from his face, ready to catch him if he were ever to fall. The mage steadied himself mentally and physically, then headed out the door and down the hallway, his apprentice still right behind him.

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**Okay. Well. That's done, now we can get onto the exciting stuff! Review for more!**


	13. Nightmares

** Now we start getting into the really interesting stuff. Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter Thirteen - Nightmares**

"Zoey, can you please stop staring at me like I just took off my head and kicked it out the window." The mage spoke without looking up from his dinner.

"What? I wasn't - Pfft, I wasn't looking at you I was just..." She tried to deny it but just ended up looking even more guilty. Rythian looked up from his pork with one eyebrow raised.

"Fine." She grumbled, going back to the potatoes and mushrooms on her plate, vengefully pushing a slightly gross looking brown mushroom off to the side and instead eating a red and white.

The rest of the meal was discussion about anything and everything that could be discussed in the short time it took to eat. It was ended with a mighty, metaphorical bang as Rythian tossed his hands in the air and took defeat. Laughing he placed the plates in the sink and went off to bed.

"Christ." He muttered to himself, shaking his head and smiling as he climbed the marble steps. As he entered his room Rythian sat down on the bed and started to take off his boots. Next came his cape. Then, just as he was about to remove his shirt, Zoey knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey." She peeked in.

"Oh, hi Zoey." The mage responded without looking up.

"Just wanted to grab my pack before I went to bed." With that she reached in, grasped a small red and white pack, then retreated down the hall. Her door closing with a soft thud.

Rythian wondered why she was going in the other room, then he remembered why she had been in his room in the first place. And that she should be back in her room, not in his.

Sighing slightly, Rythian took off the remainder of his clothing until he was down to just his boxers, then slipped under the covers.

**The nightmares were always the same.**

The boy whirled around, baring his pure white teeth and stabbing at the creatures that were chasing after him.

"Just have to find the exit." He panted, searching the horizon for the telltale frame of the portal.

"Damn." He hissed, turning around again and slashing at the hoard of endermen that had appeared. Catching his breath and running again. Just as he was starting to run out of options, a spire of obsidian with a crystal hovering on the top came into view of the purple and black sky. Muttering out a word of praise to Notch, the battered boy bolted for the natural skyscraper.

His legs screamed in protest as he ran for the spire, his lungs trying to find as much air as possible.

"Just...a little...further." He slashed at the solidified shadows and kept running, eventually finding himself standing at the base of the structure, more obsidian skinned monster's starting to swarm around him. Running out of time, the boy clenched the iron blade of his sword in his teeth and started climbing. Hooking his fingers into the crags in the brittle stone and using the outcroppings to haul himself up. As he climbed his fingers grew bloodied with the sharp edges of the rock, his skin growing more and more tattered as he climbed higher.

"Not like this, I'm not going down like this." He growled, gritting his teeth and groaning with the effort it took to haul himself the last few feet onto the top platform. Collapsing when he reached the top, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

It felt like hours before he finally caught his breath. In that time he lay on his back, hoping against all odds the endermen wouldn't find him. Standing up, Rythian wiped the blood from his mouth and hands, holding fast to the hilt of the iron blade. Straining his eyes in the pitch darkness, the young mage squinted to find his exit.

He suddenly felt himself being yanked backwards, clawed fingers gripping the cloth of his cloak and pulling his skinny frame onto his back. An enderman crashing down on top of him and pinning his right arm out to the side. He felt his sword slipping from his hand that hung over the side, slipping, until his fingers grew too weary to hold on anymore. The sword slid and fell, plunging down to the endstone beneath. He felt his light body being picked back up, his throat tightening and struggling to pull in air, then he was once again thrown backwards. When he hit the ground his spine connected with a jagged piece of the stone that made up the tower, causing his back to arch and a scream of agony to escape his lips.

The endermen grasped at his legs, pulling the battered boy towards itself, the jagged stone pushing into his spinal cord and sending him into a series of spasms, eventually forcing him forward onto his forearms.

The enderman walked forward, grinning sadistically as it tore the flesh on his arm to shreds. It grabbed him by his throat again, throwing him backwards, then leaping to finish him off.

"This is what you get for trying to leave." The creature hissed as it slowly and deliberately sliced a gash on his cheek, running it all the way from under his chin, over the left of his lip, and yanking it off to the side of his face. The young mage screaming.

"P-Please s-stop!" The young boy begged, tears flowing down and stinging his cheeks.

"Not until your corpse grows cold." The enderman hissed, its grin widened. In his desperation, the boy grabbed a shard of loose obsidian that was sitting on top of the tower, and plunged it into the scaly neck of the creature tearing his skin to pieces.

Rythian bolted up into a sitting position on the ground. His fingers tangled in the fabric of his sheets as they were sprawled on the floor. Years coming back to him in an instant. He waited patiently for his heart rate to fall back to a somewhat normal rate before he stood up all the way, grabbing the torch from the wall and walking into the bathroom.

Placing the torch in its holder on the wall, Rythian looked at himself sideways in the mirror. Curling his lip slightly at the scarred monstrosity that was staring back.

The scratch that ran from under his chin over his lip to his upper left jaw was oozing the same black gunk it normally would after the nightmare. Sighing, the mage turned on the water and splashed the scar with the liquid, sucking in a breath and wincing as it stung his skin. Then watching with one eye closed as the black ooze melted away, revealing the fresh scar tissue beneath.

Drying his face with a small towel, the mage abandoned the bathroom to the dark and went back to his room. Setting the torch back in its place on his wall, he took a seat on the bed, rubbing the back of his neck. Keeping himself free of sleep and its byproduct nightmares by reading one of the books he kept in his room.

Poor Zoey, while Rythian was experiencing all this and hating the same dream, she was enduring a new kind of terror, for her at least.

It was just like always, at first anyways.

She was just floating in the void as always. Feeling nothing but the thought that things were all her fault. The guilt eating away at her though she had no idea what she had done.

Then, in an instant the scene changed. She blinked and stared in wonder at her new surroundings.

She was now in a completely dark room except for a small amount of light that flowed in from a hole in the ceiling. Zoey shaded her eyes and peered into the dark around her.

After a throughout search of the area she began to think that she was alone. This all changed when a hiss sounded from behind her.

Whirling around as fast as her position of being kneeled on the floor would allow, Zoey saw a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness. Eyes the size of her palms and the color of her blood shone brightly at her through the dark. They appeared to let off an eerie luminescence, and had an air of frighteningly deep intelligence. It reminded her of her first impression of her master.

Just as suddenly as the eyes had appeared, they left. Blinking closed and leaving her alone in the dark again. She found herself tumbling down, down, back into the darkness of her previous dream.

"Zoey?" The mage sat up fully in his bed. Listening for more labored breathing. His ears were soon met with her breathing out a sigh from the other side of the wall.

"I'm fine." She sighed, her voice somewhat muffled by the stone wall.

"Are you sure?" Rythian asked, setting his book down onto his lap slightly.

"Yeah, thanks." He listened as the sound of her breathing grew inaudible and her heart rate slowed back to normal, lulling her into sleep.

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**And we finally see what he was dreaming about. Review for more chapters!**


	14. Teep

**Here we go. Everyone's favorite sniper, Tee! (or Teep) Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Fourteen - Teep**

**Somehow Rythian managed to sleep through the rest of the night after his nightmare, when he asked Zoey about her dream the next morning she passed it off as nothing and went outside, leaving him with the dishes.**

Rythian stared out the window, watching Zoey as she tended her crops. She seemed calm and happy and he was as well. All was right with the world.

As he was about to go back to scrubbing his plate, she stood up. The light of the sun rising over the trees caught in her messy ponytail and made her hair shine a radiant red, she stood and breathed in, her cape flowing out behind her and creating a perfect image of beauty.

"Wow." The man breathed out before he could stop himself.

Shaking his head, Rythian forced himself to look down at the water that made his hands tingle. He shouldn't be thinking about her that way.

But still, wow.

He stole one last glance at her before fixing his mind onto the task at hand. Shoving all thoughts of Zoey to the back of his mind.

"Aah!" A shout came from outside, along with a heavy thump.

"Zoey?!" Rythian looked out the window, opening it and calling her name. When she did not respond he called out again.

"Zoey!" He heard a whimper come from where she had disappeared over the small hill. In a panic he discarded the plate to the sink and ran to the door, bolting outside and trying to locate the girl. He found her sitting on the grass outside her farm, her eyes were wide and she was staring at something in the tall grass.

"Are you alright?" He knelt down beside the dazed girl, holding her shoulder and checking her over for any injuries. Zoey remained silent.

"What happened?" He asked when he had found nothing to cause her pain. Zoey raised her right hand and pointed to a stick embedded in the dirt.

No, it wasn't a stick. It was an arrow. The feathers on the end were damaged slightly and the tip was covered in dirt but it was otherwise perfectly fine.

That just made the oddities on it all the more obvious.

Gently pulling it from the ground, Rythian fingered the tip. It was sharp, yet crudely attached with a bit of twine. Looking over the feathers revealed that they were from a chicken, not as good as the ones from the raptors that ruled the skies. This shooter was experienced, but did not have the right materials.

Zoey, now fully recovered, pointed to something on the arrow.

On the side were four small scratches in the soft wood, matched by one on the other side.

"Did you see where this came from?" She looked around, then pointed to a tall spruce tree with a large portion of it's trunk shrouded in needles.

"There."

On first glance there was nothing. But Rythian knew that things are never as they seem. Casting his senses beyond the crouching pair, Rythian used his insight to look into the pine, searching out his quarry.

Blinking open his eyes, a sly smirk found its way onto his face. Signalling for Zoey to come with him, the mage took to the skies. Flying over to the tree, he pulled back a large bough with a flourish.

A man sat crouched on the branch, he looked terrified.

Just as the mage was pulling out his katar, the man jumped from the tree to the ground and ran for the hill nearby, disappearing into a cave.

"Where'd he go?" Zoey asked, flying up beside the mage.

"In there." He pointed with his red sword at the rocky outcropping. Taking flight again from the tree and gliding over to the cave, a smirk appearing on his face as he made sure the entrance was clear. Zoey came down beside him, waiting for his signal.

"All clear." The mage stepped forward on silent feet, wielding the blade in front of him and leaping into the other room inside the cave.

The sight there was both frightening and pitiful. The walls were nothing more than those that had been carved by nature, the chest that sat in one corner was well constructed, but flies and the smell of rotting flesh still escaped it. The bed was...useable. The blankets were roughly sewn bit of wool that looked like they had just been cut off the sheep. The rest in little better shape.

As sad as the room looked, the person who had fired the arrow appeared even worse.

He was no more than a boy really. He looked far too skinny under his green shirt, his dark brown eyes that were no longer hidden under the hood shining with fear of the intimidating man before him. The bow was drawn, but the aim wavered and shook as the boy heaved his breath in and out. The arrow would never hit it's mark like that.

"Set down the weapon." Rythian commanded. The boy did not move.

"Set down the weapon." The mage said again, his voice more forceful now. The boy's gaze flickered to the side. Seeing no other way out, he slowly placed his bow and arrows on the floor.

"Slide them towards me." The boy did as he was commanded and pushed the bow forwards with the toe of his boot.

"Zoey," Rythian called for his apprentice, never taking his eyes off the archer. She leaned around the corner to respond.

"I want you to come and take the bow and arrows on the ground." She moved forward, grabbing the bow and retreating to back behind her master.

"What is your name?" The boy looked down at his hands, silently asking to be able to move. The master nodded and the boy began to speak in sign language.

"Please, just let me go and I won't ever bother you again." He managed to decipher. Rythian looked less than amused.

"I didn't ask if you would bother us if let go, I asked for your name." The boy gave him another worried look, then signed something else with shaking fingers.

"Tee." Rythian looked sceptical. Then Zoey spoke up, stepping forward timidly.

"Rythian, I don't think he wants to hurt us. And he seems to be a pretty good shot. Maybe we can let him stay, he can be a sort of guard for the castle." Rythian flicked his gaze to her for only a moment. Then back to Tee.

"Zoey, he tried to kill you. You can't really be suggesting that we keep him?" She said nothing. His eyebrows jumped up and he shook his head.

"No Zoey, we're not keeping him." She pulled the bow over her head and secured it across her chest.

"C'mon, I mean, look at him. It's not like he can actually hurt us." Rythian chanced a look at the boy listening to their conversation. He realised for the first time how truly pitiful he looked. Heaving a mighty sigh and muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, the mage reluctantly lowered his weapon.

"Fine." A smile slipped onto Zoeys face, she hopped forward happily and wrapped her arms around Rythian's neck.

"Thank you." She then pulled back and went to the boy, who looked less terrified but still mildly frightened, keeping one eye on the mage. Dragging him behind her all the way back to the castle, Rythian in tow with one eye on the mute.

**The rest of the day had Zoey showing Tee around the castle. Explaining where he could go, where he couldn't go, and where everything was. After a few days both Rythian and Tee had calmed down. Sharing a drink and conversation resulted in a mutual understanding and almost friendly bond between the two. Quinn and Tee really hit it off. Becoming as good friends as a dragon and an archer can. A simple, informative letter to Ridge and it was official, the sniper could stay.**

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**Well? What do you guys think of Tee as a person? (Sorry if you would rather he be a Dino, that's just my head canon of him.) This is where the rapid fire cool stuff starts, so be sure to review and hold onto your hats!**


	15. Before the Party

**Chapter Fifteen - Before the Party**

**After a few days both Rythian and Tee had calmed down. Sharing a drink and conversation resulted in a mutual understanding and almost friendly bond between the two. Quinn and Tee really hit it off. Becoming as good friends as a dragon and an archer can. A simple, informative letter to Ridge and it was official, the sniper could stay. Along with the final letter sent from Ridge came three small, red slips of paper. Entry tickets to the party, no doubt. One day left, and that was to be spent finding all the right apparel. ( "nothing too special," the letter said, "skirts for the women, jackets for the men.") The three set about preparing.**

Tee looked up from searching through the alchemical chest to shake his head at the wall. It seemed Zoey and Rythian had no quiet button today. Always asking about one thing or another. Now, Zoey appeared to have abducted Rythian's jacket.

"Zoey where did you put it?" Rythian walked into the magic room wearing a pair of plain black pants and a white undershirt.

"Hey Tee, have you seen my jacket?" The boy shook his head and continued rummaging around for his jacket to go over his green undershirt.

A blur of red hair zipped by the door and up the stairs, a bit of black cloth trailing after her.

"Zoey!" He shouted and walked after her.

Tee shook his head again and continued his search, eventually pulling out with his black coat.

"Zoey." Rythian walked into the room he had seen the redhead disappear into. The only response was a muffled giggling emanating from the other side of the bed. He sighed and looked around the end. She was crouched down with his ( thankfully unruffled) jacket in her hands and a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Zoey, what are you doing?" He held out his hand and helped the still smiling girl up. She handed him his jacket.

"I just wanted to cheer you up. It seems like this party has you really freaked out." He sighed again, but smiled slightly as he put on his jacket.

"Thanks Zoey. I appreciate it." She smiled up at him again and skipped out of the room. Despite himself he continued to smile as she bounced out of the room.

"Hi Tee!" Zoey smiled at the boy who was looking at himself in a mirror in the living room. The mute nodded her way then went back to admiring himself.

"It looks good." She rolled her eyes as he turned to look at his back again, worrying about how he looked, no doubt.

With a silent nod, Tee turned to Zoey full on and moved his hands to speak to her.

"What are you going to wear?" She looked down at her normal clothes that she was currently wearing.

"Oh, I've got something. Don't worry about me."

"Zoey! Are you coming?" Rythian called up the stairs, pulling the purple scarf that had replaced his normal black mask around his neck and checking himself over in the mirror, finally pulling the loose fabric over his nose, then looking down to check that his red matter katar was discretely tucked into its sheath at his hip.

"Yeah! I'm coming!" Zoey's voice floated down to Tee and Rythian as they waited by the door. Tee looked outside at the last rays of sunlight. Rythian listened to her light footsteps come down the stairs.

"Alright, lets go." The mage looked back at her, taking in her red skirt that came to just above her knee, her orange tank top and the small yellow handbag.

"Ready?" He asked, opening the door to where his dragon was sat outside in her saddle and armor.

"Yup." She walked outside and was quickly followed by her master and her friend. The trio piled onto the dragon and flew off, heading for the thick fog that separated the islands from the world below.

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**Sorry for the short chapter guys. They'll be like this for a while unfortunately. Anyways, how do you think the party's going to go? Let me know in the reviews!**


	16. Minty Minute

**Chapter Sixteen - Minty Minute**

The ride was a rather short one. It seemed they had just barely cleared the under fog when Quinn was landing on a large island of neatly trimmed grass. She let her riders dismount then flew off a ways, staying close in case they needed her but out of the way in case they didn't.

"Alright, you two ready?" Tee nodded in response to Rythian's question without taking his eyes off the huge mansion that loomed in front of them. As no one else seemed inclined to move towards the gargoyle clad manor, the master led Tee and Zoey inside.

Zoey never expected the inside of the house to look so cheerful. Upon entering she found a huge room decorated with banners and streamers displaying the trademark dark brown and gold of Ridgedog. The room was well lit by the torches that punctuated the wall, casting a flickering orange light over the huge entrance and enormous stairway.

"Hello." The voice startled Zoey. She looked up at the stairwell to find Ridge standing about halfway up.

"Hello Ridge." Rythian answered for both of his accomplices in a not unfriendly but still rather curt manner.

"Good to see you could make it. The others are just out in the back." Ridge walked the rest of the way down the stairs and led the way around under the walkway, walking through a door operated for him by a servant with the three in tow.

They ended up in an area outside that was well lit by lanterns hung from ropes draped throughout the many large oak trees lining a small clearing. The clearing had a wooden deck in the middle with more lights, tables and chairs, as well as a small bar and the stage where one could stand to control the lights and music. Many of the chairs were occupied by masters and apprentices alike, only six were left open.

"Well, thats almost everyone." Ridge smile widened evermore, only becoming slightly less when someone knocked at the door.

"Excuse me." He walked back to the door, disappearing inside.

"Rythian, good you could make it pal." The mage looked down to see a dwarf less than half his height smiling up from underneath a thick, ginger beard.

"Oh, hello Honeydew. Good to see you as well." Rythian responded, folding one hand behind his back and talking in his formal-as-always voice.

"Nice to finally see you at one of these." Xephos spoke up from beside the dwarf, one hand on the hilt of his diamond blade.

"Well, it's a requirement when you have an apprentice." Rythian pointed out.

"I guess so, how's that going, by the way?" Xephos asked.

"Not bad. Actually, it's kind of nice to have some company around." The swordsman laughed lightly. Rythian looked around for a moment, chuckling as he spotted Tee at the bar.

He was leaning over with a drink in one hand, a pleading smile on his face. The barmaid turned around with a glass in her hand, she looked at Tee with one eyebrow raised. Flipping her long, blonde hair out of her face, the barmaid leaned across the bar from Tee, resting her chin on her hand and taking a sip.

"Looks like Tee found a friend." Xephos turned to look where Rythian had motioned with his hand and laughed heartily.

"Well, at least he's enjoying himself." The mage took one final look at his sniper friend.

"What's your name?" The blonde girl sipped her drink again after asking the mute boy.

"Tee, what's yours?" He signed back.

"Minty, Minty Minute."

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**And in this chapter we see the start of that Minteep mentioned in the description. Hope you liked, the more interesting parts of the party will be happening later, for now this is all I've got.**


	17. Just Dance

**Okay! Here we go! Sorry in advance for the short chapter, again. I'm trying to get better about that.**

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**Chapter Seventeen - Just Dance**

"Now then!" Ridgedog's voice boomed from the balcony where he stood, startling his company.

"Since everyone's here, we might as well start this party up." As if on cue, the music started, playing fast and loud. A few shouts of encouragement come from the younger members of the group.

Sjin, Toby, Martyn, Tee, Minty and Zoey all smiled and grabbed someone to pull onto the dancefloor. Sjin elbowed Sips and jerked his head in the direction of the dance floor, Toby and Martyn looked at one another and smirked, running up and starting to move wildly and erratically, Tee cleared his throat in front of Minty, who took his hand and walked onto the stage. Zoey walked to Rythian, who had moved off to the side, and extended her hand.

Rythian opened his mouth to deny her, when another man stepped up and tapped her shoulder.

"If you want to dance then you've got a better shot with me." Lalna cast a sideways glance at the mage, who's scowl returned with renewed vigor.

"Okay." She relented and walked out to dance with the scientist.

Lalna was actually quite a good dancer. He spun her into a twirl, landing Zoey in a heap in his arms, then standing her back upright. The surrounding dancers (who by this time had been joined by Xephos, Lomadia and Honeydew) clapped, then resumed dancing. Honeydew making everyone laugh when he fell on his backside.

Rythian watched as Lalna spun her, the joy on her face as she was brought back onto her feet. He hardly noticed Ridge standing beside him.

"She seems to be enjoying herself." Ridge started. "And yet, something seems like she could still be happier." Rythian looked at Ridge, who he was beginning to suspect knew more than previously thought.

The song had just ended, now everybody on the floor was trying to get a new partner. Seeing everyone else taken, Zoey looked to the side.

Yup, still there. Rythian was still leaning against one of the tree's on the edge of the clearing. Putting on her biggest smile and most pleading eyes, Zoey ran up and grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, let's dance." The mage looked around nervously, but did not resist as his apprentice yanked him onto the floor.

Then the next song started and suddenly everyone was moving. Only a few of those movement actual dance moves.

**The next few hours were filled with joyous shouts and happy laughs, all watched over by Ridgedog. They danced for hours on end, eventually collapsing into chairs, still laughing.**

Zoey looked to the side to see Rythian's chest rising and falling rapidly and heavily, she could tell he was smiling even though he was wearing a mask.

"That was fun." She panted, looking to see everyone else, all in a similar state.

**The party probably would ended there. That is, if it hadn't been for the appearance of a creature from another time, another land. The appearance of a monster from another adventure.**

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**Muahahahacliffhangerhahahahahaha...ahaha...aaah.**

***Ahem***

**Sorry about that. I got a bit carried away.**

**Anyways! Any guesses on who the new character is? Anybody?**


	18. The Demon Master

**Just a quick thing before we get to the fic.**

**Somebody said in the reviews that Tee's name is supposed to be Teep. I would like to point out that in the Blackrock chronicles they call him Tee so thats how I've done it. The names aren't always the real names or the usernames for different characters. I mostly use what they call each other in their series and my headcanons when deciding what to call them.**

**Now that that's all cleared up, onto the story.**

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**Chapter Eighteen - The Demon Master**

**Warning for language on this chapter, I know you guys can probably handle it, but just in case.**

**(And most of you guessed right on who the new character is.)**

"Hello, heroes." A voice drifted into the clearing, seeming to come from all sides. It was full to the brim with contempt, as if pleased with itself.

Everyone jumped up, those who had weapons unsheathed them. The voice laughed coldly, now emanating clearly from the tree line, though it was impossible to pinpoint. The masters all pushed their apprentices behind them, those with weapons herding the rest into the center of the previously deserted dance floor.

"Forget to send an invite to me?" It mocked, still the masters were unable to locate the source, turning to keep an eye everywhere it could come from. Finally, somebody cleared their throat and mind enough to speak.

"Show yourself!" Honeydew peeked out from behind Xephos enough to shout in as deep a voice as he could muster. The voice laughed again, sending a chill down several spines.

"If you insist." Zoey's gaze shot upwards, some of the lights around the perimeter of the floor flickered and went out, drawing several gasps. Only the few in the very middle stayed lit, casting eerie shadows into the tree's and making the small wood beyond it more ominous.

Then, from the darkest shadows, two glowing, red orbs floated forward. Zoey could feel her heart rate rising and and a heavy lump forming in her throat. The eyes from her dream, how could they be here?

The eyes narrowed to slits, and were soon followed by the rest of their owner.

The creature's skin was white as snow, it had no hair and oddly large eyes, it's mouth curved downwards in a perpetual frown. Folding it hands behind it's back, the monster stepped forward. Honeydew and Xephos growled in unison.

"Israphel."

"Yes yes, hello, we've been through this." Israphel waved an impatient hand at the red bearded dwarf and the sword wielding spaceman, choosing instead to look over the rest of the crowd.

"I'm much more interested in those I haven't spoken to before." His gaze fell on Toby, who puffed himself up to try and look intimidating. Then migrated to Sjin, who held fast by Sips' side. Next was Nilesy, he properly hid behind Lomadia who was right beside Xephos. Finally stopping on Zoey, she chose to slide farther behind Rythian.

"Well well well, who's this little dear?" Zoey cringed, Rythian holding tighter to the hilt of his blade while moving in front of her a little more.

It was hard to tell Israphel was even walking. It was only when he went to reach out for the red head when the mage reacted, snarling angrily and slashing at the white creeper's extended arm.

"Touch her and you'll lose your hand." Rythian warned, staring fearlessly back into the red orbs with his dangerously dark purple. Israphel cocked his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" Xephos growled,still pointing his sword at the creeper man and grabbing his attention from the mages. Israphel tipped back his head and laughed, striding over to the front of the group again.

"Can't I go to a party I'm supposed to be invited to in the first place? I am a master after all."

"You're no master!" Honeydew jumped from behind the spaceman with his pickaxe raised over his shoulder.

"Oh really?" Israphel stalked up right in front of the ginger bearded dwarf and leaned down to be at eye level with him.

"And why is that?" The amusement in his voice had been replaced with thick, deadly venom.

"You know why you son of a bitch. Now get out of here before I put this sword in your gut." Xephos glared at the demon master with ice in his eyes and equally dangerous poison lacing his words. Israphel grinned as much as he could, then stood not three inches from Xephos' face.

"Tough talk from one who couldn't even take care of his first apprentice." He hissed in a low voice. The normally calm spaceman's eyes were instantly alight with the fires of hell. His hand shot upwards, grabbing Israphel's throat and holding it tight while backing him up against the nearest tree.

"**I** kept her safe, you stole her from me you bastard, you stole her from me. If you hadn't taken her Daisy would have been the greatest swordsmith in our realm, but you stole her from me. Her death is on **you**." Xephos snarled, gritting his teeth and squeezing tight. Israphel choked for air, then just as he was about to fall into unconsciousness, pulled something from his pocket and threw it on the ground. A thick, grey cloud of smoke bloomed from the small explosive and forced Xephos back in surprise. The white creeper dropped to the ground, then stumbled away into the trees.


	19. The Aftermath

**Okay! Here's the next chapter! **

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**Chapter Nineteen - The Aftermath**

**When the smoke went up there was panic.**

Honeydew shouted something in dwarfish and swung his pickaxe in a wide arc. Lomadia tried to find a clear area but tripped on something, falling and folding her arms defensively over her head. Minty and Teep both backed up until they were out of range of any danger. Toby grabbed Martyn and ducked down, avoiding the oncoming diamond pick. Sips cursed loudly, alerting everyone as to where he and Sjin were. Nilesy walked around in a circle for a moment before getting his bearings. Rythian raised his sword in a block in front of him, catching the pick that was swinging around and ending it's journey. Zoey gripping his cloak tightly in her fist.

**When it cleared it was shown that everyone was alright. The only one who hadn't done anything was Xephos. He was still sitting next to the tree he had pinned Israphel against, a murderous look etched onto his features.**

"Xephos..." Honeydew approached his friend, leaving the others to tidy themselves up. Xephos did not look up.

"Xephos." His ice blue eyes flicked to Honeydew, watching him as a wounded dog would, wary and distrustful. Sighing, he let the anger and pain flood out of his eyes, dangling his head and staring at the tree again.

"He got away." The words were so quiet you could barely hear them. Honeydew risked a few steps closer.

"Don't worry mate." Xephos squeezed his eyes closed, as if it would hold back his anger.

"He never said why he was here." He seethed through clenched teeth. Honeydew looked down at the ground again. He knew how much hatred the spaceman reserved for israphel, and decided he needed a moment to think. leaving Xephos to sort his thoughts out, the dwarf went to make sure everyone else was okay.

"Zoey? Are you alright?" Turning to face his apprentice for the first time. Rythian quickly examined every inch of her features. She was looking at the woods past him, seeming very distracted.

"Those eyes..." She murmured in a whisper. Grabbing her shoulder and shaking it slightly. She broke from her trance and looked up at Rythian with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" He repeated softly. She paused to mull it over for a moment, then responded with a question of her own.

"Did you see his eyes?" There was a kind of fearful wonder in her voice, but before he could reply she continued.

"Terrifying, yet somehow familiar." There was an oddly calm air to her speech, a trait that crumbled to bits in mere seconds.

One tiny tear sprinted down her cheek and dove off her chin, soon followed by it's brethren until she was full on crying. Looking around to make sure nobody was looking, Rythian pulled her into his chest to hide her crying, the only sound a small whimper accompanied by the shaking of her shoulders.

"Shhh, Zoey. It's okay." Keeping an eye out to make sure no one was watching before he stroked the back of her head. Feeling the wet of her tears creating the familiar tingling sensation on his skin. Miraculously, nobody even seemed to notice his holding her, or saw the small kiss that was planted on her forehead.

At least, no one they knew of.

After a moment Zoey pried herself away "I'm okay." She pulled away and wiped her eyes.

"Are you sure? Do you need to talk about it?" He asked in a low voice. After a pause, she added quietly.

"Later."

**With that they went to find Tee.**

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**Well, another chapter out of the way. **

**Sorry this is so short ****_*hides behind desk*_**** these are sort of filler chapters until I get to the really good part.**

**And no, we're not there yet. :3**


	20. Chapter 20

**Yeah! The first chapters where I get to show more ships! Prepare your butts!**

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**Chapter Twenty - Shadow of Israphel**

"Is anyone hurt?" Honeydew asked, taking the lead as Xephos was currently occupied and could not. Not a sound passed through the group, so it was left to Ridge to give the all clear.

"Good." Normally the dwarf would have made some sort of joke to lighten the mood, the fact he hadn't sent another wave of unease through the small crowd.

"Ridge?" The god like emperor floated down to meet Honeydew.

"I think it would be best if everyone went home." Ridge silently agreed, flying off to let everyone else know.

**The party broke up after that. Nobody speaking a word until they were on the way home.**

**Chapter Twenty - Part 1 - Blackrock**

"Tee? Are you going to be okay?" Rythian called down the hallway after the retreating figure of Tee. He stopped and nodded, pushing open the door to the livingroom where he was staying until they could set up a proper room for him.

Following his example, the mage walked up the steps to the second floor and into his room. Sitting down on the bed to drop his head into his hands. He didn't have much time to mope, for almost as soon as he was sat down a knock sounded at his door.

"Come in." He didn't look up but he could tell who it was. Zoey's footsteps padded around the bed then stopped next to where Rythian sat. The mattress groaned under their combined weight, but quieted itself as they began to talk.

"You okay?" He looked over at her. She was in a pair of long, red pajama pants and a white shirt with the name of some obscure band he had never heard of. She sucked in a deep breath, hauling her knees onto the bed and hugging them to her chest.

"No." Her voice was hardly more than a whimper.

"He kept looking at me. I felt..." She paused to wipe a tear from beneath her eye and bury her face more into her arms.

"I felt exposed, like he could see everything." Another tear found it's way to her cheek, and she wiped it away angrily.

At a loss for anything else to do, Rythian placed his hand on her shoulder. She leaned closer and closed her eyes. Scooting up to his side as he held her tighter.

"Don't worry Zoey," Rythian glared at the wall opposite the torch, his shadow sat on the dark outline of the bed and grinned at him. Flashing a dark smile at him from where it held Zoey's shadow.

"He can't hurt you here." The mage gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the shadow mimicking his every action.

**Part 2 - Sipsco**

"Sir, are you positive you don't need us keeping watch?" The guard asked Sips who waved him away with his normal cockyness.

"Yeah, yeah. Look guys, why do you think I let Sjin stick around? He's the only protection I need." Sips rolled his eyes and closed the door in his guard's face. The heavy boots tromping off to patrol another part of the compound.

"Hey Sips, he gone?" Sjin's voice sounded from around the corner where the bedroom was. Sips walked in and sat down on his end of the joined beds, pulling off his shoes and tossing them to the floor carelessly.

"Yeah." Sips grumbled. Tugging his old flannel on and curling up under the thick blankets.

"Good." Sjin leaned out of the bed, nearly falling on his face trying to flick off the light. Snuggling back into his pillow and about to drift off into a troublesome sleep.

"Sjin?" The tall apprentice looked over his shoulder at his much stouter companion.

"Yeah?"

"D'ya think we could...y'know...cuddle?" Sjin turned farther to look into Sips' eyes.

"Sure Sipsy." He rolled over and wrapped his long arms around Sips, who turned over as well and snuggled deep into his chest.

"Thanks." Came the shorter man's muffled voice.

"No problem Sipsy." Sjin rested his chin on top of the smooth, black hair. Closing his eyes and letting himself fall into a decidedly more restful sleep.

**Part 3 - Inthelittlewood**

Toby shivered in his bed, despite it being a warm night. He gritted his teeth and rolled onto his back, staring up at the green tent material. Letting out a shaky breath, he forced his tired eyes open, swinging his bare feet over the side of his bed and pulling aside the tent flap, adding a few logs to the firepit.

"Toby?" The forest prince rubbed sleep from his eyes and looked out the tent to where a small fire was crackling. Toby was sitting with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Eyes locked on the orange tendrils of flame.

"Hi Martyn." He glanced at the blonde boy and flashed a quick smile.

"What's up?" Martyn sat next to Toby, who was sporting a fair amount of goosebumps, even though he was sweating from sitting next to the fire bundled in a thick blanket.

"I couldn't sleep." The boy grumbled, rubbing his eye with his knuckle. Martyn looked at the ground.

"Because of what happened today?"

"Yeah."

"Would it help if I kept watch?" Martyn offered. Toby kept looking at the fire, then without warning, lay down on his side. Letting his head rest on Martyn's lap.

"Thanks." Toby allowed his eyes to slide closed, holding the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

"Don't mention it." He reached down and began smoothing the younger boy's brown mess of hair.

It didn't take long for them both to fall asleep that night.

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**Let me know what you thought of this chapter in the reviews! **

**Thanks for reading, bai!**


	21. The Story of Israphel

**Yaaaaay! I'm back gaize! **

**And it's back story time! (For the Yogcave I'm thinking of the pimped out version [minus the whole Israphel face shooting range], not the old S.O.I. one. If you don't know what I'm referring to look for it on youtube.)**

**Warnings: Language (swearing), blood, gore, gross descriptions of internal organs, and other stuff I forgot but that I'm sure is there.**

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**Chapter Twenty-one - The Story Of Israphel**

"I wish for you to teach me in the ways of blacksmithing." The crowd cheered and hollered. Daisy looked all around at the people chanting her name. Gaze finally falling on her new master.

"Well, thats all for today folks. Masters, you may now bring your apprentices home." Daisy's smile widened even more. She was finally going to be a real blacksmith!

"Alright then miss Daisy, lets get you back to the Yogcave." Xephos leapt astride his horse and had another called over for her. Climbing aboard gracefully, Daisy followed her master out of the arena sun, Honeydew galloping up on his pony to ride next to the much taller man.

**It wasn't long before the three reached the island where the dwarf and the spaceman made their home.**

"Wow." Daisy gasped as the Yogcave came into view.

Describing it as magnificent would be an understatement. Absolutely breathtaking? Perhaps, but still insufficient.

The snow capped peaks high above massive cavern jaws sprinkled a thin shower of ice shavings onto Daisy and the two men. Xephos smirked at her face as she leaned back to try and see the very top of the mountain above them.

"This is the Yogcave?" A smile crept onto her face, pulling the corners of her mouth up to touch her ears.

"Yup," Honeydew helped Daisy off her horse and brought the three steeds to a small barn where they would stay.

"My lady." The dwarf faked a posh accent and swung open the wide door, Daisy gave a small curtsey and walked in, stopping to stare in awe at the bookshelves, hot tub, and generally everything AWEsome (ya see what I did there :D).

"This is wonderful." She breathed, turning in a full circle to take it all in.

"Well, it's alright." Honeydew joked, laughing heartily when Xephos glared down at him.

"It is great, and thats not all." Daisy clasped her hands in front of her short green dress and listened intently as the two masters showed her their home. Taking in every detail.

"Okay, well, here's your room, dinner in a few minutes and lights out after that." Honeydew showed the apprentice the room she would be staying in.

"Thanks." Daisy walked into the room that, while not as cavernous as the master bedrooms, was still a fair bit larger than what she was used to. Setting her bag on the bed and looking around. The walls were well decorated by a few paintings and numerous torches, as well as a small bookshelf that also functioned as a bedside table decorated with a mirror and another torch.

Setting her suitcase on the floor next to the bed, Daisy sat down on the chalky blue sheets, the soft mattress dipping under her weight.

After a moment of rest, Daisy stood and tied her long blonde hair back in a neat bun and flattened out any wrinkles in her short, green dress. Smiling at her reflection, she headed off for the main room of the cave.

Daisy walked into the room where she could smell beef and carrots, her mouth watering at the smell.

The sight she found when she turned the final corner produced a quite different effect. Stifling a laugh with some difficulty, the girl clapped a hand over her mouth.

Xephos was trying his hardest to ferry the beef over to the table while holding it above where Honeydew (who was orbiting around the taller man and yipping like a small breed of dog) could reach.

"Honeydew," The spaceman growled down at his much shorter companion.

"Will you just back off so I can put this on the table?"

"Xephos, you know I haven't eaten since lunch, and that was hours ago!" He made another mad grab for the meat.

As the men continued to wrestle the platter was suddenly lifted from both their hands. Turning to see Daisy setting the plate gently on the table.

"Well gentlemen, are we going to eat or not?"

**The rest of the meal was eaten with few problems, once the dwarf had started that is. After that the time was spent discussing sword types and blacksmithing techniques, eventually winding down and ending when Daisy announced her heading off to bed.**

Daisy groggily yanked the blankets off her head, squinting into the dark. She sat up and rubbed her eyes a few times. Fumbling blindly for the flint and steel to light the torch, and shielding her eyes when it did catch.

Deciding she needed a glass of water, she dragged herself from bed and sleepily stumbled into the hall, pausing when she heard voices.

"Aren't you the least bit curious?" Daisy did not recognise the voice of this man. She made a mental note of how he pronounced his 's'.

"Frankly, no. Really Izzy, I thought we talked about this." 'Izzy?' Surely Xephos wasn't talking to-?

"Please don't use that name. Honestly Xephos, it's humiliating."

"Fine Israphel, anyway, you get my point. I've seen those 'experiments' of yours before." Daisy could hear the air quotes in his voice when he said 'experiments'.

"Look, the ones you saw were just the prototypes, hardly balanced and really incapable of anything the new ones are." Xephos gave a reluctant sigh, but remained strong.

"No."

The conversation between the two continued but Daisy was no longer listening, slinking back to bed and laying on her back. Questions racing through her brain.

What was Israphel doing here? I mean it was obvious he and Xephos were having a conversation but, in the middle of the night? Didn't Israphel have something better to do? He was a master after all.

**And one of the more famous masters at that. Before Israphel became the evil, pale faced creeper everyone knew, he was the master of necromancy. Admittedly not one of the nicer professions, but a rare talent indeed, and one worthy of his position.**

For the second time that night Daisy's eyes flew open. Once again she dragged herself from her sheets, this time pausing at the doorway to peer down the hall. The voices were much louder now, they were almost screaming at each other.

No, they were, in fact, screaming at each other. Daisy noticed the door on the other side of the hall swing open to reveal a, phenomenally pissed off, dwarf.

Honeydew stormed out of his room and stomped down the hall, Daisy sleepily in tow just a few feet behind.

"What the bloody hell do you two think you're doing?!" Both Israphel and Xephos paused in their yelling to stare at Honeydew. If she hadn't been so tired Daisy might have noticed the steam coming out of the dwarf's ears. As it were she had just about fallen asleep where she stood when the shouting started back up.

"I don't give a shit what happened or who did what!" The ginger bearded man was practically fuming now. Turning to the pale man who had a small flush of color on his cheeks now, Honeydew pointed to the door.

"Israphel. Out." It sounded like he was commanding a disobedient dog. Flustered, but trying not to show it, Israphel swept his silver hair out of his eyes and glared at honeydew with his icy blue eyes, lips curling into a sneer.

Holding his head high, he walked out of the door, letting it slam behind him. Honeydew then turned to the spaceman.

He was leaning with both palms planted firmly against the table. His hair was ruffled as if he had been running his fingers through it in frustration, something he was known to do. His face was red and his eyes wild.

**It was known that Israphel and Xephos did not get along well. They could hardly be in the same room together without getting into some sort of fight. (Xephos still bore a bruise from the last time things had gotten physical.) Exasperated, Honeydew approached his friend more calmly.**

"What the hell was that about?" The redness was starting to leave both their faces.

Xephos didn't make a sound. The dwarf normally would have pressed him for information. However, seeing as it was somewhere around two in the morning, he let it go.

"C'mon, lets just go to sleep." With that Honeydew led the way to the bedchambers.

"Goddamit Xephos, why won't you just listen?" Israphel hissed under his breath, walking into his laboratory. He was so deep in thought that he completely failed to notice the beeping coming from one of the test chambers. One with a door that was open and grey sludge splattered on the inside.

Before he could react the creeper exploded, spewing squishy, pale internal organs and slimy, red goop all over his coat, skin and hair.

"Aaah, shit." Israphel wiped a fair amount of the red goo out of his eyes and peeled what appeared to be a liver off his shoulder.

"What the hell?" Shaking his hand to rid it of the slime, he squeezed his eyes closed, shoving his knuckles into the sockets and rubbing furiously.

"Oww." He moaned, trying to force his eyes open with little success.

It was like when you got soap in your eyes, only ten times worse. The stinging left Israphel blind. He couldn't see when the stomach that had gotten stuck to his hand burst, sending digestive fluids all over the room, and the already very pale man.

Falling to the floor in a fit of fear and pain, Israphel moaned and cried out for help, though he knew there was no one around who could save him.

Eventually the writhing stopped. The pale man dragged himself along the floor until he found a table to help stand up. Panting, he pulled himself to his feet and took a long look in the mirror.

He hardly looked like himself. His hair had fallen off, leaving nothing but paper white skin stretched over his skull. His mouth was scarred at the corners, pulling his face down into an eternal frown. His nose was almost completely gone, likely dissolved in the digestive juice. Eyes that were once a deep, ocean blue now illuminated the area in liquidy red.

And then there were the voices. In his head, light whispers that gave him ideas. Showed him things he never saw before. And made his blood thirsty instincts all the more prevalent. His lips twitched slightly upwards, creating an eerie grin.

"Daisy, don't wander off, we'll be back soon." Xephos called back to her from the door.

"Okay." She peered at him over her shoulder. The two men were going to have drinks with a friend of theirs, a retired master named Old Peculiar. The door creaked closed and she was left with her work, making a set of armor and tools for herself.

She began hammering away at a sword, making the diamonds into a blade was not easy, but well worth it. She never got to finish however, as a hand came around and gripped her throat tightly. She tried her best to fight, but with air going out and not coming in, it was only a matter of time before she fell to the floor.

Xephos waved at the man flying up into a gigantic tree. The faint cries of "Swampy, Away!" could be heard on the wind.

"Bye Swampy!" He smiled and shaded his eyes with one hand.

Turning to the dwarf, he nodded his head in the direction of the exit to the oasis. A warm smile flew onto Honeydew's face and he bounded off towards the trees. The spaceman shook his head and wiped sweat from his brow, they were in the desert after all. Walking after the dwarf, he found him not ten feet into the bush, staring as if something had spooked him.

"Friend, what's wrong?" Xephos was joking at first, but the look on the dwarf's face was no joke. Raising his short arm, Honeydew pointed into a clearing. Looking where Honeydew had pointed, the remaining bits of smile dropped from Xephos' face.

There was a torn bit of green cloth. Then a broken shrub. Stepping towards the crushed bush, Xephos got a better look at what had broken all the branches.

A wild mess of long, blonde hair. A short green dress covered in dust and twigs, and blood.

"Daisy." Honeydew broke, no, shattered the silence. Xephos turned to his friend to see tears welling up in his eyes.

"She's dead." Looking back at the girl, Xephos noticed for the first time the arrows in her back, and the rope tying her hands together. He choked back the lump in his throat and spoke.

"Looks like she died trying to escape." Despite himself the tears found their way to his eyes.

"She was brave that way." The dwarf agreed.

**The funeral was held two days later. It took time but she was finally brought back to her home town. Her mother cried the most, but there were plenty of close seconds. Daisy had many friends.**

**From that day forward Israphel had not been seen. Some reported seeing him in caves around the area of Mistral City, but these were dismissed like those of Herobrine. For most he was nothing more than a legend.**

* * *

**Okay, you asked for what happened to Daisy, I gave the whole back story. Next chapter will be Zoethian-centric, as requested.**


	22. The Cave

**Quick note, the parts that are in italics with little stars are sounds.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Two - The Cave**

Rythian gasped and sat straight up. Eyes widening and pulse rushing, he sat up. something falling off his chest and moaning as it hit the bed.

"Zoey?" He asked the dark.

"Wha-what are you doing up?" She asked groggily, looking up and searching for the flint and steel to light a torch.

"Just a nightmare." He sighed, dragging a hand down his face, stopping when he touched something warm and sticky. Realising what it was, he tried to stop Zoey lighting the torch.

"What?" The room was flooded with orange light, leaving no shadow ridden corner for Rythian to hide the black gunk oozing from his scar.

"Oh my god!" Her hands flew to her mouth as she gasped. "Rythian, what-"

"It's a long story." He got up and stalked across the hallway to the bathroom, picking up a rag on the side of the sink and wiping at the black stuff. It hissed and refused to disintegrate in the water. Dropping the rag in frustration, he hung his head.

Footsteps came up behind and Rythian heard the water run, followed by a wet squish as the rag was wetted. A hand grabbed his scarred cheek and turned it towards the light. Opening his eyes, the mage looked to see Zoey dabbing at the ooze, more gently than he had been.

"Zoey..." He looked at her, confused as to why she was helping him.

"What?" She smiled, granted it was a tired smile, but none the less genuine.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you."

"But, why?" She stopped scrubbing and stared at him, perplexed.

"Why would I not?"

"I just...you're...the way you acted when you saw...I thought you were, frightened, disgusted." He stammered out.

"Was I startled?" She asked rhetorically. "Yes. Frightened? For your well being, yes again. Disgusted? Never." She resumed cleaning the black gunk, muttering a quick 'sorry' when he winced.

"There." Zoey washed the rag of any leftover traces of black and set it in the sink, running her thumb over his scar, just to make sure she got it all.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"No problem."

**With that Rythian led the way back to the bedroom. Ducking under the covers again, he allowed himself to drift back to sleep.**

"Zoey!" Rythian shouted from the magic room. The redhead groaned and rolled over.

"Zoey!" Giving up on sleep, she called back down.

"What?!"

"What did you do with the diamonds?!" Peeling her hair away from her face, she looked up with a confused expression on her face.

"What?" She muttered to herself, getting out of bed and walking down the hall.

"What do you mean?" She called from the top of the stairs.

"The diamonds, what did you do with them?" Rythian leaned out the door.

"I didn't do anything with them."

"Well, then, where did they go?"

"I don't know, I didn't touch them." Exasperated, Rythian leaned back on the door frame.

"Well, then we have to go get some more."

"Okay, I'll let Tee know and gather up some food."

Rythian waited patiently. Since he discovered the mysteriously missing diamonds he had gather up some torches, most of those were missing too, and a red matter pickaxe. Now he was waiting just below the trap door that led to the mines.

"Okay," Zoey dropped down and began rifling through her alchemical bag.

"I got my dark matter pick, some wood, lots of sticks, and bread for both of us." She handed him a brown paper bag and some sticks and wood.

"Lets go then." Rythian stuffed the items into his bag and led the way down into the mines.

Beginning the trek down into the dark, he only paused to look up at a sign. When he read what it said he stopped completely and looked up, perplexed.

"Zoey, what is this?" She stopped as well and examined the sign above their heads.

"_You dug too deep, I am awakened_." She read aloud.

"I don't know." The look on her face was blank.

"What? You mean to tell me you didn't put this here?"

"Exactly."

"But..." Rythian looked at the sign again, the handwriting was none he recognised.

"Whatever." He growled, pushing forward. Zoey remained to stare at the sign a moment longer, then followed, a bit closer than she had been to start with.

They continued down into the mine, stopping about a hundred feet down. Rythian growled, glaring at the wall to the right.

Zoey followed his gaze and was met by a huge cobblestone wall, moss growing in just the right places to roughly create the features of a creeper's face. After a moment of thought, the mage unsheathed his pick and swung.

"Who the hell..." He muttered angrily as he ripped the cobble down. He stopped only when the previous wall was nothing more than the entrance a black hole venturing further into the earth.

"Lets go." Zoey shook her head as if to clear it and looked at him incredulously.

"What? You mean just go down into the mysterious hole?"

"Yes." He called over his shoulder, lighting a torch and walking into the dark fearlessly.

Reluctantly, Zoey followed him into the depths.

_*creak*_

"What was that?" Zoey asked, stopping dead in her tracks.

"What do you mean?" Rythian stopped underneath a wooden support and turned to the girl.

_*creak*_

"That, the cracking noise."

"I don't hear anything."

_*creak!*_

"There it is again!"

_*CREAK!*_

Zoey looked around for the rapidly growing noise, her gaze stopping on the cracked wooden beam above Rythian's head.

"Rythian! Look out!" He looked up in time to see the planks fail and drop rocks down onto his head.

* * *

**Aaaaand cliffhanger! Sorry about that, but the next chapter(s) go on forever, so expect a few more cliffhangers. **


	23. Prisoners

**Chapter Twenty Three - Prisoners**

A heavy sounding door slid closed, grinding against the concrete floor.

"Rythian," Zoey whimpered from somewhere next to him.

"Please wake up." Chilly, shaking fingers cupped the side of his face. The mage opened his bleary eyes and saw Zoey touching his cheek with one hand, her eyes full of worry and the other hand clenched in a fist next to her chest. She stretched her arm farther to stroke his skin. Why didn't she just come closer?

The world around Rythian came into focus more. He saw the cut on her cheek and just above her eye, as well as the bruise on her arm.

"Zoey..." His eyes finally adjusted all the way to the dark.

They were in a concrete room, iron bars separating him from her, her hand was holding one of the bars. The floor was covered in straw and small animal bones. Somewhere in the dark a rat scurried away. Rythian bolted upright and regretted it immediately. His head began to throb like there was someone pounding on the inside.

"Rythian, are you okay?" He fell onto his back again and she grabbed his hand.

"Zoey, I'm fine," Of course he knew that was a lie. "don't worry about me."

"How sweet." Someone hissed from the darkness on the other side of him. Rythian snapped his head towards the sound. The scar on his left lip suddenly yanked the flesh upwards in a snarl of rage, vengeance and, if you were bold enough to say such things, fear.

"It really is a wonder why you stay so near him my dear." Israphel addressed only Zoey now. She immediately scooted as far from the man as she could get, hugging her knees to her chest in a remote corner.

"And a wonder you haven't gone under yet." Israphel flicked his attention back to Rythian, looking at him the same way a hungry fox would a cornered rabbit.

"What?" Rythian asked the question, but he feared he knew what Israphel was talking about.

"Oh, the revert, back to your original form." That was it. The fear in his throat rose and threatened to choke him.

"Rythian, what is he talking about?" Zoey made her first attempt at speech in the pale man's presence, never taking her eyes off Israphel for more than a second.

The mage did not respond. Instead he chose to shoot arrows at Israphel, in the form of venomous glares.

"I'll leave you to it then." Israphel grinned and sauntered off.

"Rythi." She begged for his reply. Rythian looked at her sadly and offered no explanation.

**Hours passed, then days, until it had been a full week. Over the seven days many more of the masters and their apprentices were added to what was revealed to be a room of stone, lined with cages. Eventually everyone, even Ridgedog himself, were dragged in and caged.**

Ridge blinked open his eyes, they glowed a light amber in the dark. That made four pairs of luminescence, blinking in the dark.

"Hm." It almost sounded like a curious, yet matter-of-fact statement. Like he was impressed rather than frightened.

"Well, it's quite a predicament we're in." Ridge was much calmer than everybody else had been.

"Really? Is that all you have to say? I put a lot of work into this prison." Israphel stood in front of Ridge's cell, hands folded behind his back.

"A cell for everyone and everyone in their cells. Even you can't escape." Ridge sighed, dragging himself to his feet and rubbing out an imaginary wrinkle in the pristine fabric.

"You say everyone's here?" The questions were beginning to sound more like a casual conversation than a talk between a psychotic kidnapper and his demigod prisoner.

"Oh yes. In fact, you're the last before I start."

"Start what?" For the first time in any of their lives, those who were watching saw Ridgedog, genuinely confused. It was terrifying to know that, for once, he didn't know what was going to happen.

"Experimenting." Was the simple yet chilling response. Ridge pushed past the first lump in his throat in eons.

"Care to elaborate?" Israphel smiled, as if this was what he had wanted all along.

"Each one of you are different, special. Some more than others. No doubt you've noticed the glows in the dark by now." The other prisoners looked from Ridge, to Xephos, then Zoey, and finally Rythian.

"I already know why this happens to you, what I want to learn is how I can use that to my advantage." The pale man began his slow trek around the room. Looking into each and every cage, examining the people that would avert their eyes, and the ones who met his gaze defiantly.

"And I'll start..." He brushed paper white finger tips along the bars, nails clicking on the metal.

"with you." Time stopped for everyone. Two things ran through their heads.

"Is it me?" Was the first thing.

"No, it's not." Was the answer for most of them. For one, the answer was something far more chilling.

"He means me."

Rythian stared right at Israphel without even a tinge of fear visible.

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter, near the end I started to get a little lazy in terms of length. **

**Next chapter will be out tomorrow. **


	24. EnderBoss

**No doubt those of you who've watched the Shadow of Israphel series remember characters such as Zombie_Boss and Creeper_Boss? Well, in this I decided to try and explain just how they showed up. **

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Four - Ender_Boss**

"No, you won't." The answer was simple and short, yet the look it received was positively venomous.

"What?" Israphel's voice dropped, now it was dangerously low. As if one more wrong word would set him off.

"I'd rather die than become one of your sick lap dogs." Rythian was right up against the bars now, towering over the pale man by several inches. His eyes narrowed defiantly over the rim of his mask.

"You dare defy me?" Israphel's eyes were almost laughing now, but his expression remained completely serious.

"As opposed to my other option, yes." The mocking smile spread from his eyes to the rest of his face. Grinning as widely as one in his condition could, Israphel dropped his gaze to the level their hands lay at their sides.

Allowing his eyes to slide down to where the capture was looking, a horrifying sight met him.

A needle had been inserted into his skin while he was busy, how he had missed the pinch was beyond him, but now there was an empty syringe forced into the back of his hand, likely already pumping all sorts of toxins into his system.

"What did you do to me?" Rythian growled, watching in horror as the skin around the injection began to turn black.

"Just a little chemical I came up with." Israphel seemed almost smug. "It allows the host to turn into a mob, but with more control and far more intelligence. Although, it requires that the host be mob-born already." He leaned closer to the man clutching his hand in pain. "You know plenty about that, don't you...enderborn."

Rythian searched in an internal panic for something to stop the change, he could already feel his insides twisting to avoid being crushed in the process. The only thing he noticed, was a knife hanging just inside Israphel's coat.

Reaching through the bars with lightening speed, Rythian grabbed the hilt of the blade and dragged it across his wrist.

"Rythian!" Zoey shouted, seeing his wrist spurt blood all over the floor, Israphel, and himself. Desperate to get to him, she reached through her bars and nicked the key from Israphel's belt and opened her cage, pushing aside the pale man and letting herself into Rythian's cell.

Throwing the door open and the key to the floor, Zoey knelt next to the dying man.

"Rythian, why?" She begged, holding his hand as if it would drag him back from the brink of death. He chuckled, albeit weakly, and wheezed out a sigh.

"You either die a human, or live long enough to watch yourself become a monster. I don't want you to have to see that side of me Zoey." She looked down, hoping to hide her tears, but a hand cupped her cheek and dragged her gaze back to his misty, rapidly dulling eyes.

"But I will miss you."

"I'll miss you too Rythi." She choked out. Suddenly seeing the faraway look in his eyes, Zoey began to panic.

"Please, I need you, please don't go." A weak smile graced his scarred lips.

"Zoey..." He would never finish that sentence. For as soon as her name had left his lips, so did the light. Purple drained away and was replaced by a cold, lifeless, almost colorless blue.

"No.." She gave in to the tears forming in her eyes and dropped down, allowing her head to rest on his chest that was already starting to grow cold. Sucking in a deep breath, a fresh sob tumbled from her lips.

She could smell the faint tingle of glowstone dust eternally bound to his clothes. The more overpowering red matter scent washing her senses and dulling them further than they already were from pain and sorrow.

"Don't leave me," She begged, then added in a lower voice,

"I love you."

**A few moments of tense silence passed. And the least likely person in the room to speak, or do anything, was the one who shattered the quiet.**

Zoey lay on the ground, head resting on the dead man's chest, sobs shaking her shoulders mercilessly. Things couldn't get any worse now, could they?

In fact, they could. In a split second the mages eyes flew open and he let out a scream unlike almost any other she had ever heard.

Scrambling to move away from the supposedly dead man, she backed herself into a corner.

Nothing could compare to the pain Rythian was feeling now. It was most intense in his right hand and along a scar on his lips. Another pain filled scream filled the cavernous room and his back arched against the stone floor. He fell again, panting and trying to not black out.

"Zoey." The voice was scratchy, and sounded as if it echoed infinitely, but it was still his. He was almost relieved, but also scared out of his mind.

"R-Rythian?" The girl was honestly terrified. But she edged forward, reaching out a hand to touch his cheek.

He stopped, his breathing was ragged and his pupils twitched madly. Her hand was shaking and panicked tears were streaming down her face, but she still managed to touch his cheek comfortingly.

"Help...me." With that he let out a mighty roar that faded into a screech of white hot agony. The mage was lost to a monster.

He fell to the floor again. This time he heard a sickening pop and groaned, he knew what was coming.

He doubled over and held his abdomen, feeling his insides squirming around and trying to find a new place in his new body as if they had minds of their own.

He sucked in a deep breath and held in a screech as his bones elongated and his skin tightened tenfold. He could feel his teeth becoming sharp and his skin taking on a completely new texture. His spine decided almost casually to start growing along with the rest of his body, the bones that were already there stretched to the limit and the spaces between them were filled with completely new vertebra.

Then, all at once, everything stopped. The pain, stopped. The changing, stopped. All Rythian heard was his own breathing and the thoughts pounding inside his head. Warily, he forced his head up.

"That went well." Israphel hissed. Rythian tried to spit a poisonous comment back, but nothing came out but a chirp. Horrified, Rythian clutched at his throat with one hand, holding the other in front of him to examine. Terror was written on his face in plain, bold text.

His hand had become something from his nightmares. It was covered in thick, shiny, black scales. Long, cruel claws jutted out from the tips of his fingers, and a heavy, armor-like bone plate was placed on the outside of his forearm.

Zoey watched in fear as Rythian dropped his head and growled. Squeezing his eyes shut. When they opened again they were no longer white with purple surrounding black pupils. Now they were pure indigo all around. No feeling, no empathy, no love. She didn't know what it was, but this thing was not Rythian, not anymore.

The not-Rythian snapped it's gaze up to the pale man, stretching the corners of it's mouth into a twisted grin.

"Welcome to the cult, Rythian. Or should I call you Ender_Boss?" The devious grin's only widened, on both ends.

"Very well." He allowed the new '_Boss to stand and walk (stumble) out of the cell before shutting it, locking Zoey inside.

"Lets go show you your new home, shall we?" Ender_Boss nodded eagerly and followed Israphel out of the room, where to? No one in the room would know for a good long while.

"Rythian's never coming back, is he?" Zoey whispered from the mage's old cell.

"No." Lalna responded, reaching through the bars to touch her hand. She looked to see who was trying to comfort her, then pulled away and hid in a corner.

* * *

**Well. I'm not really sure what to say about this chapter. It was kinda fun to write the changing. But I feel that I missed out on a lot of story. I don't know. Let me know what you think.**


	25. The End?

**Just a quick note, the italics in quotes are thoughts and those in stars are sounds.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Five - The End?**

"_What am I doing?_" Rythian thought to himself.

"_I'm following the dragon into it's cave, and it's showing me around like I'm a freaking guest._"

"Watch yourself going through the labs. Theres some things in that could blow the whole place sky high."

"_Well if thats not an invitation I don't know what is_." Rythian stopped, looking into a concrete cell containing three green, glowing spheres.

"I see you've noticed the nuclear reactors,"

"_Are you serious?_"

"We're just in the process of replacing the coolant cells."

"_Figures_."

"The workers have to remove the old ones and get the new in as fast as possible. Any kind of delay and those reactors become ticking time bombs."

"_I see. Let's cause a delay then_."

The only sound in the whole of the prison was the rats scurrying through the dark. Even the weeping coming from Zoey's cell had ceased, or at least was too quiet to hear. At this point everyone was too scared to speak. They doubted now that they would ever escape.

_*beep...beep...beep*_

"What was that?" Lomadia seemed to be the only one who heard the beeping.

"What?" Lalna sat up straight.

_*beep...beep...beep*_

"That beeping noise."

"I heard it!" Sjin exclaimed excitedly.

"Me too." Sips seemed more worried than Sjin about the implications of a loud beeping.

"What do you think it means?" Honeydew called.

They didn't get much time to speculate, as they soon heard the pounding of feet down a hallway, then the metal door flung open. Once the creature was fully inside it slammed the door closed again and locked it. Not long after another, much angrier creature came down the hall and started screaming and pounding on the other side of the door.

"What's going on?!" Lalna demanded, his voice cracking slightly.

He was met with a cold, purple glare.

_*beep...beep...beep*_

"That sound ring any bells?" Lalna stood stock still. Had that creature just...talked?

**It had. Despite the fact that speech sounded more like a dying motor, it was still possible to decipher.**

"Rythian?" Zoey whispered meekly.

The enderman continued to stare at Lalna, like it was waiting for him to answer it's question. Thinking, realisation struck the scientist like a truck.

"Guys, we need to get out of here now."

"What?" Xephos looked both worried and extremely confused.

"That beeping means something is about to explode, and based off the number and pitch of the beeps, I'd say it's three nuclear reactors."

_*beep...beep...beep*_

**The only word to describe what happened next was panic.**

Xephos immediately started screaming for everyone to calm down and figure this out, Honeydew yelled at Xephos for no reason in particular, Lomadia started shaking the bars of her cage madly, along with Sjin and Tee who tried to knock the door down with their body weight. Minty was yelling for someone to find the keys, Sips started looking around but soon joined in trying to knock to cage doors down with Tee and Sjin. The only ones who weren't panicking were Ridgedog, Zoey and what was formerly known to the group as Rythian.

_*beep...beep...beep*_

The beeping was beginning to be drowned out by the sound of rock collapsing in on itself. With little else to do, Rythian fumbled with the keys he had stolen from Israphel and began opening the cage doors. The first door to open was the one containing Xephos and Honeydew, next was Lomadia, who ran to help Nilesy out. After the shaken poolboy was Martyn and Toby. The next cell contained Ridgedog, who insisted on waiting until everybody was free to start running. After being given a key, Ridge opened the doors of Sips and Sjin's cage, letting them run for it, then came Lalna and Tee.

Finally, Rythian forced the key into the last lock, swinging the door wide open. Zoey only looked at him warily. Not willing to take the full brunt of three nuclear explosives, he grabbed her hand and started to run. His pace only picked up when the door holding Israphel back burst open and produced a already bloody Israphel. Running ahead a little ways, Rythian held open a door for Zoey.

In a last attempt to prove something, acting more out of reaction than logic, Israphel grabbed Zoey's wrist and held her back.

"Rythian!" She screamed over the sounds of falling rock and beeping. The tall and somewhat imposing half mob turned and yelped, as much as an enderman could, turning on his heels and running back to her.

With luck, he would have slashed Israphel away and grabbed Zoey, running for the exit and just making it in time.

But luck was not with him that day.

Just as he was about to reach her, the tunnel above him collapsed, leaving nothing but a small hole where her hand was reaching for his.

Chirping frantically and scrabbling about, Rythian clawed at the hole and made it just large enough to see her face through.

"Rythian!" Zoey called again, grasping his clawed fingers and holding to them as if her life depended on it.

Then, his fingers receded from the hole and she was left, in a collapsing cave, with a madman, scared and knowing she would most likely die.

Finally, if he was to die, at least he would be with the one he loved. Rythian held Zoey's small, pale hand in his and spoke to her, saying things he knew she couldn't understand but that made him feel a bit better.

Then a hand grabbed his upper arm and dragged him back.

Fighting to get out of the grasp of his capture, Rythian was swung around to face Ridgedog. He squawked in protest and fought the demigod again, leaving several, very deep scratches in his arm and coat.

"Rythian! You can't save her!" Ridge screamed as the enderman broke free of his grasp and ran back to the hole.

Rythian regarded Ridge with deep, fearful, violet eyes. Looking from him to Zoey.

Zoey saw the ebony claws that were holding her hand close into fists, then hold her hand in both of his.

She only panicked when the fingers patted her hand that had closed around a rock, and leave.

"Rythian!" She was terrified.

He forced himself to run, hearing the fear in her voice and knowing that, if she died, it would be all his fault.

"Rythian, I miss you!" Zoey called. Hoping against hope that he would hear her and come back.

"Rythian, I need you right now! The nukes are about to explode!" Her voice cracked on the last words.

"Rythian I-" The reactors chose that, of all moments, to go up.

* * *

**I apologise for any feels you may have felt or trauma you may have suffered from this chapter.**


	26. The End

**Okay, before we start, I feel I need to explain something because people were losing their crap.**

**I imagine Ridge having some super powers, one of them being able to persuade anybody to do anything. This is how he convinced Rythian to leave Zoey. If it had been truly and wholly Rythian's choice then we all know he would have stayed by her right to the bitter end.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Six - The End**

**** "_Have I just killed her?_" Rythian wondered in panic as he ran for the exit. There were rocks falling all around him, some of them were basalt instead of just plain stone, Blackrock was falling as well.

Shielding his face with his bony forearms, Rythian bolted out of the crumbling stronghold and into the sunlight. It was a deceptively nice day, or it would be if the ground wasn't shaking.

Reaching the rest of the group in the shade of a large tree, Rythian stopped and stared back at Blackrock.

He knew that the lifestone he left her would keep her alive, or it would at least try.

"_Why did I just leave her?_" Rythian thought in sudden panic. He mentally kicked himself for listening to the persuasions of Ridge.

"_I need to save her_." With the effects of the demigod's silver tongue wearing off, Rythian broke away from the group and started running. He was stopped by what he saw.

The first thing they saw was a flash. Next came the ear shattering boom. Looking up, Rythian saw chunks of chalky grey rock raining from the sky.

"_No..._" He felt the earth shake, sending the others to the ground while he watched, hoping against every kind of odd that he would see something, anything to indicate she had survived. Tears pricked at his eyes and stung his skin.

"_Where is she?_" Nothing, just rock and dirt and sand and... red.

Just behind where Blackrock stood. Over the lake, he saw a streak of red falling from the sky.

"_Please let her be alive._" He begged, teleporting around the still smoking crater and stopping on the beach. Sure enough, something battered and seemingly painted red was plummeting into the water.

_*Splash!*_

Rythian watched in horror as the waters were turned a deep, thick rose. And as she sank to the bottom of the lake.

Driven by fear for her and not caring about the consequences, Rythian waded into the water. He winced as it stung his skin, but pushed on, he wanted to at least get to Zoey before he gave up.

She was deeper in now, sucking in a breath, Rythian dove headfirst into the burning caldron of agony, forcing himself to swim for both their lives.

When he reached her rapidly sinking body, he realised the lack of air flowing into his lungs. His body desperately tried to breathe, but he only ended up with a mouthful of water that stung his insides just as painfully as his outsides.

Looking down, he saw how peaceful the red head seemed, the blood flowing out of her body had caused her to pass out. If she drowned, she would die in her sleep.

Taking one last longing look at the surface, Rythian bent his head down for what he assumed would be the final time in his life.

Rythian felt the sandy bottom of the lake on his extended leg, his leg began to bend at the knee from the body weight pushing it down, then something wrapped around Rythian's upper arm.

He felt himself being pulled upward by some unknown force. Struggling to keep his hold on Zoey and just as he was about to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen, they burst out into the air.

Rythian could feel his senses returning, the pain from the water had dulled to little more than an ache. He could now tell that he was being held by a large, clawed hand. Dragging his eyes up as far as they would go, he saw the smooth, black scales on the underside of his dragon.

"_Quinn?_" He spoke in, what humans would describe as, a series of chirps and hisses. Only something of ender decent would understand what he was saying.

Lucky he was picky about what dragon he befriended.

The dragon responded with another chirp. Similar to his own, albeit deeper in pitch.

"_I've never been so glad to see you._" He thought to himself.

Before long the fine sands of the lakeside beach brushed against Rythian's toes. Dropping down from where Quinn was holding him and kneeling on the sand, Zoey curled on his lap. For the first time he got to survey the damage.

She was soaked in red. No surprise based off what she had just been through. There were cuts and scrapes all over, along with bruises and all number of shrapnel wounds. Her right eye was badly cut and the swelling had sealed it shut. There was a large scratch over the bridge of her nose and what looked like five broken ribs lower down.

All of it paled in comparison to her arm.

There wasn't even an elbow anymore. Not the tiniest stump. Her left arm had been blown clean off, nothing left but a shoulder oozing blood at an alarming rate.

Faintly, in the back of his mind, Rythian wondered where the remains of the arm had gone. He threw this thought straight out the window when he saw her remaining eye crack open, just a bit.

"R-Ryt-Rythian?" She tried to reach with her right hand, he grasped the appendage and held it in both of his. He nodded furiously.

"What happened?" He froze, overpowered with guilt and not wanting to tell her how he had left. She replaced the old question with a newer one.

"Why can't I feel my arm?" She strained to sit up and look, but was pushed back to the ground by heavily clawed fingers. A shake of Rythian's head told Zoey to hold still.

"My god." Rythian whipped his head around, finding that the rest of the group had caught up with him. He noticed Honeydew at the front, mouth agape, while Xephos murmured something under his breath, then reached into his bag, pulling out what Rythian recognised as a healing potion. Stumbling forward somewhat unsteadily, Xephos handed the bottle to Rythian.

"What's that?" Zoey asked, her eyelids getting heavy.

"A healing potion." Xephos answered while Rythian tilted the bottle to her lips. She winced slightly, healing did hurt after all.

Eventually the blood stopped flowing from her shoulder, though a prothstetic would have to be acquired.

When half the potion had been downed, she lifted her remaining arm and grabbed the neck of the glass bottle. Managing a weak smile, she handed Rythian the transparent, red liquid.

"Your turn." Her voice was somewhat hoarse. His eyes showed dismay, and he gently shook his head.

"Why not?"

He lifted his chin and pointed out the water burns on his throat.

"Oh.."

"We should probably move." Xephos suggested from the side, standing and brushing off his pants. Nodding, Rythian lifted Zoey up in his arms. She was still too weak to stand on her own.

Taking a last gulp of the potion, she handed the bottle back to Xephos, then wrapped her arms around Rythian's neck.

"Rythie?" Her voice was small, only he heard her. Looking down, he was met by a pair of lips pressed against his own. He let out a surprised (and somewhat muffled) chirp. His mouth began to burn, not on the scale it had been earlier, but it was still noticeable, as was the liquid forced into his mouth. Then she pulled away. He stared down at her, confused.

He was so distracted he hadn't noticed the skin on his arms turn a soft tan.

"What was that?" The sound of his own voice shocked him. Zoey smiled a wide, eager and excited smile. Something he had sorely missed. Hugging tight around his neck, she murmured into his cape.

"I'm glad that worked."

**After that day, Rythian gave up his status as master, and decided to move somewhere more secluded, taking Zoey and Tee. Not that they didn't like their old home, but somethings are truly better left alone. Included in that list is an old, radiated, crater.**

**When Rythian confronted Ridge about the kiss(es) the emperor said that "what he didn't know couldn't hurt him." But added that Rythian should have been more careful at the party. The rule about apprentices dating their masters was not lifted, although Sjin and Toby both decided the best course of action would be to live with their former teachers after graduation. There were rumors about a relationship status in both cases. These rumors were neither confirmed, nor were they denied.**

**The body of Israphel was never found, but after weeks of searching and multiple, pale, severed limbs were found, he was officially pronounced dead.**


	27. Special Thanks

**Special Thanks**

Hey guys and gals! I just wanted to make this special chapter to thank all the awesome people who supported the story.

Special thanks to Jman14102 for posting a review for almost every chapter. That really motivated me to get this done.

To all the other people who posted a review, I say thank you. It was really encouraging to see how many people thought this was worth their time.

Now, until the next story, adieu!


	28. Important! Please Read

Hey guys and gals, I just created a poll on my profile and would very much appreciate it if you would vote. That is, if you want me to make a Floating Islands 2.

Hope that's proper incentive,

Stephanie D.Z.


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